Pelayo Sanchez (Movistar) came away with the biggest result of his young career on stage 6 of the Giro d'Italia, out-sprinting Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quickstep) from a three-rider breakaway.
Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) gained back some lost time on race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), taking eight seconds in time bonuses through the intermediate sprints and his third-place finish on the stage.
The much-anticipated Strade Bianche stage had none of the expected impact, with UAE Team Emirates and Ineos Grenadiers controlling the pace, and a brisk crosswind deterring any cheeky attacks.
Plapp's trio gained only half a minute at the finish in Rapolano Terme, giving Pogačar his sixth straight day in the maglia rosa, while Geraint Thomas (Ineos) and Dani Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe) finished safely in the peloton to remain second and third at 46 and 47 seconds, respectively.
Sanchez could scarcely believe what he accomplished and, after shaking his head during his victory salute and looking equally surprised during the flash interview, he said, "This is amazing. I don't have words - it's a crazy, crazy day for me.
"Since the start of the Giro, I tried to save energy because I knew I didn't have the shape to be at the front in the first days. So I tried to save energy for today. And today, I could be in the breakaway. But I could never imagine to win the stage, so for me it's crazy. I don't have words."
It took more than half the stage for any breakaway to form after a furious first two hours, and the winning trio had to split a much larger group that finally went away with Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) driving the pace in pursuit of sprint points.
"I knew that it was going to be a really hard day or the day, all the day full gas," Sanchez said. "I tried to save energy and wait for my moment. And when we were almost more than two hours of racing, then everyone started attacking and I did my move and I was in a breakaway.
"I tried to be calm and try to eliminate some riders. At the end I worked with Plapp and Alaphilippe, so I tried to collaborate with them and also try to drop them but it was impossible for me. So I tried at the end in the sprint and luckily, I was the fastest."
Plapp also remarked about how hard the stage turned out to be, although he had no illusions that UAE would let him ride away with the maglia rosa.
"It was an insane day, the race was out of control the whole stage. It was ridiculous for the first 80km and when it went out of control I was able to jump. Kaden Groves actually set it up, he was amazing for a sprinter we all know how well he can climb, that was incredible.
"Then the three of us worked reasonably well to the finish, we played games a bit. I was half eyes on looking for time and half looking for the stage, so I ended up riding a bit harder than the others, but in the end I'm happy."
Plapp rode in the virtual race lead as the breakaway gained almost three minutes but didn't believe that Tadej Pogačar was prepared to let his maglia rosa go.
"I knew they were never going to let it go. You could see from the gaps they were keeping they weren't willing to let the jersey go. I tried to be efficient and save for tomorrow. It was a good day, beautiful weather and good fun out there in the break."
Pogačar said the day's tactics were perfect as it let the team conserve energy on what could have been a more explosive stage. He wasn't about to go on another 80-kilometre solo attack as he did when he won Strade Bianche in March.
"Even if Plappy had taken the jersey it would be fine, but Ineos were riding super hard on the gravel sections and on the last climb it was also super hard," Pogačar said. "For me it was OK, a good stage - I'm happy that it's over. It was enjoyable to again ride these gravel roads but I prefer Strade Bianche."
How it unfolded
The strade bianche day of the Giro d'Italia started with a vicious fight for the breakaway that lasted for the entire first half of the stage. Would Pogačar let a move go and give away the maglia rosa, freeing up his post-stage time for recovery?
Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost) was the first attacker and together with Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) and Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) were part of numerous attempts to break away before the first climb of the day, the category 4 ascent at Volterra, 8.6km long and averaging 4.7%.
On the approach to the summit of the first climb, Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group Bardiani CSF Faizanè) attacked with Alaphilippe and Aurelien Paret-Pientre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) to claim the maximum points.
Paret-Pientre, 24th at 3:00, would have been a good choice to inherit the maglia rosa but Alpecin-Deceuninck had other ideas. They led an attempt to split a group off the front before the intermediate sprint, which came at Casole d'Elsa with 76.2km to go.
Plapp (21st in GC at 2:33) was the most notable inclusion in the large group and was active in trying to reduce the size, while Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) made the attack to try and steal points toward the maglia ciclamino.
Alaphilippe, Sánchez and Groves kept pushing the pace and were eventually joined by Fiorelli, Matteo Trentin (Tudor Pro Cycling), Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R), and Plapp to finally establish a gap on the maglia rosa.
Groves claimed the maximum points at the intermediate sprint and the group kept working to build a lead and held just over three minutes as they entered the first gravel sector. The chase began picking up rapidly, however, and as the peloton entered the same sector, the gap to the breakaway was down to 2:40.
Ineos Grenadiers seized control of the peloton amid the wind and dust. On sector number two, the breakaway's advantage was down to 2:10 and dropping.
Plapp attacked the lead group on the Grotti sector, splitting the breakaway with Alaphilippe and Sanchez latching on. With Groves left behind, Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) was satisfied to let off on the gas and hand the reins back over to UAE Team Emirates to control the breakaway.
Not much happened on the first two gravel sectors, although a touch of wheels involving Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R) and Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) forced the pair to chase back on the uphill stretch of sector two.
Plapp, Alaphilippe and Sanchez had 31 seconds on the chasers with the peloton closing in, 1:26 down on the leaders as they crested the second climb of the day just after the end of the Grotti sector.
The gap started to go back out when Honoré attacked again to try to solo across to the leaders, but he never got far.
Plapp added to his fortunes by claiming the three-second time bonus at the Intergiro sprint at Monteroni d'Arbia, and it seemed certain he would inherit the maglia rosa.
However, as the leaders hit the final gravel sector with 17.8km to go, their advantage was down to just over two minutes and Plapp's pink dreams began to evaporate. The four forgotten chasers were finally back in the peloton just before the Pievina gravel sector, where Ineos took the lead setting a furious pace.
In the brisk crosswind with dust swirling all around, Ineos brought the gap down to 1:20. Sensing the opportunity to take the race lead had passed, Plapp didn't bother to sprint for the three-second bonification in Pievina behind Alaphilippe and Sánchez.
With just over a minute in hand, the trio lost momentum when Sánchez misjudged a roundabout and had to come to a standstill along with Alaphilippe, while Plapp, unaffected, kept motoring. The Movistar rider powered back to the Australian Champion but the effort cost the leaders.
When they hit the short, steep kicker inside 5km to go, the escapees had only 31 seconds on the chasers. Sánchez attacked with Alaphilippe, while Plapp metered his efforts.
The Australian led the trio into the uphill sprint finish. Alaphilippe opened up the sprint first but had to cede to Sánchez, who celebrated his first major victory.
Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost), who attacked with 2km to go, stayed away for fourth on the stage a few seconds ahead of the bunch, led to the line by Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers).
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