At first glance, stage 6 of the Giro d’Italia looked to be a normal sprint stage, a welcome respite after two hard days in the mountains. However, crosswinds livened up the race, splitting the field into several groups, even if that failed to stop the sprinters from claiming the stage as Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) raced to her fourth victory.
With 64km to go, Uno-X Mobility used the passage through Volta Mantovana, with narrow streets, a brief uphill, and a short but steep, winding descent, to string out the peloton, then split it into several groups in the crosswinds that followed. Several of the GC contenders were caught out and had to work hard to close the gaps again.
The Norwegian team relied on the local knowledge of their rider Alessia Vigilia, who orchestrated the move, bringing six of the team’s seven riders to the front just before Volta Mantovana and hitting the short climb hard.
“We knew the full bunch was aiming for a bunch sprint, and people will not be as focused, especially 64km from the finish. We saw this opportunity, and Alessia confirmed that it was a good option,” sport director Nicolas Marche explained the tactic to Cyclingnews.
Soon, a first group of 28 riders emerged. Maglia rosa Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) was there, but Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM), Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek), and Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla Jayco) were the only other riders from the GC top-ten that had made the first group. Of the sprinters, only Balsamo, Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech), and Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM) were present.
This was exactly what Uno-X Mobility had hoped for, and they kept driving the group, hoping to turn the stage into a long-range pursuit.
“We aimed to surprise everyone and create a group with people who have GC interests and others going for the stage. We are here to race and try to find opportunities. A reduced group would have been ideal for us, to sprint for a top result with Linda [Zanetti],” said Marche.
Van der Breggen initially missed the first split of only 19 riders but quickly came across with several of her teammates, putting her in a comfortable position as many of the other GC contenders were on the back foot.
“We knew something could happen at that point, so we were at the front. The wind would come from the side, after a technical passage through a town with small streets and a downhill. It split up for a small moment, and it is always better to be in the first group than in the second or third,” said Van der Breggen at the race press conference.
The second group, consisting of 42 riders, was only nine seconds behind but had to work hard to keep this gap stable and then try to close it. Of the GC top-ten, Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez), white jersey Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek), Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), and Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike) were in this group. 11th-placed Lore De Schepper (AG Insurance-Soudal) and eventual stage runner-up Maggie Coles-Lyster (Human Powered Health) were also there, and Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) dropped back from the first group to help her young teammate Holmgren.
A gung-ho effort by FDJ United-Suez failed to close the gap. UAE Team ADQ took over with a more measured approach, and with the help of Human Powered Health, FDJ United-Suez, and individual riders from several other teams, they managed to get back to the first peloton with 56.7km to go.
Even further back, a third group counting a total of 60 riders was trailing by almost 40 seconds. Marlen Reusser (Movistar), Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal), and Magdeleine Vallières (EF Education-Oatly) were the best-placed GC riders, suddenly facing a possible time loss on a flat stage.
Movistar Team took charge of the chase, with Reusser herself trading turns with her teammates at the front of the group in order to come back to the front of the race, eventually succeeding 46.5km from the finish.
From then on, it became a ‘normal’ flat stage again, but the crosswind action showed that a Grand Tour can surprise you at any moment.
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