Napoli, birthplace of pizza, home of the Serie A champions, and the adopted city of Diego Maradona. On Thursday, it hosted the Giro d’Italia for a 46th time, as the capital of Campania saw both the start and finish of stage 6.
Once again it was Jonathan Milan who brought home the points for Team Bahrain Victorious, as another 2nd place tightened his grip on the Maglia Ciclamino. Overall, Damiano Caruso, Jack Haig and Santiago Buitrago all finished safely and remain in contention.
The day’s bumpy 162 kilometres promised one of the most visually beautiful stages in Grand Tour history, taking in the Amalfi coast, Sorrento, and some of the most spectacular scenery in Europe. But the morning rain, continuing yesterday’s downpours, put that in doubt. Fortunately, the sun was shining by the time a five-man break got away and stayed out until long after the shadows of racing bikes had gone from the Via Francesco Caracciolo.
In the breakaway were two riders with almost unparalleled world tour experience, former teammates Simon Clarke and Alessandro de Marchi, both riding their 17th Grand Tours.
With 70km remaining, these two men attacked from the breakaway and soon found themselves leading the race by more than 2’30”. With the peloton hesitating, it was never certain that they would catch the escapees before the line, and the gap was still 1’42” at 20km, 1 minute at 10k, and 35” at 5k. Eventually, they were reeled in just 250 metres from the line, and the bunch sprint was on!
Fernando Gaviria (MOV) launched his sprint first, followed by Simone Consonni (COF). Behind them, Mads Pedersen (TFS) and Milan pulled out to get a clear run in, and Pedersen (TFS) used Gaviria as a windshield before slingshotting into Jonny’s line at 50m and driving for the win. The ‘Buja Bull’ was a bike length behind, confirming him as the most consistent sprinter this year. 3rd place went to Pascal Ackermann (BOH).
Afterwards, the 22-year-old reflected on another podium at his Giro debut.
“I gave my all in the sprint, but my legs were pretty tired after the last few days, so I wasn’t fresh enough. You can only use what you have on the day. I tried to push the absolute maximum, even after that tough climb earlier in the stage. I really suffered out there!
My condition is good, and I’m ready to defend this jersey. I’m aiming to make it to Rome, for sure! We’ve seen how impeccable Andrea, Jasha & the team are working, and we’ll try to keep this jersey, take it stage by stage, recover well, and assess what we need to do even at the intermediate sprints.
I’m satisfied with what I’ve done so far, I’m happy enough, and Mads did a great sprint today; congrats to him.”
Napoli is known around the world for its pizza, and the ‘base’ of this result for was made by the whole Bahrain team. The ‘sauce’ of Milan’s confidence is his form so far in this race. And the topping? Well, that is a fifth day in the purple points jersey, which JonnyPower – as the Italian press have started to refer to him – will wear on the first mountain stage of this race on Friday, which finishes atop the notorious 1st category Gran Sasso d’Italia.
A hour earlier, Bahrain Victorious had another good result in a sprint, this time in Hungary.
The 2nd stage of the Tour de Hongrie saw a second chance for sprinters. After 4th place yesterday, Phil Bauhaus sprinted to 2nd place today, just edged by Fabio Jakobsen from Soudal – Quick Step.
The 175km stage between Zalaegerszeg and Kezsthely was a flat affair and wind nor rain could split the peloton, as riders were doing an average of 43 km/h. As expected it was the battle for position in the end and Matevz Govekar was the last rider from to lead out Phil Bauhaus in the mix to fight for the win.
Phil Bauhaus: “Yes, it was a bunch sprint as we expected it. I was quite nervous as it was windy, and it started to rain, so it was quite slippery. We could stay in the front to avoid all the crashes, and I could find a good way, we had a good position as a team in the last km. It was a headwind and I was on the wheel of Ewan, but Jakobsen was just faster than me. I’m happy to bring second place home.”
SD Enrico Poitschke: “It was a very windy stage, and we were focused on keeping the team in a good, safe position. When it started to rain, we decided to ride in front and stay away from crashes and problems. I would like to emphasise that the team did a very good job. Yesterday we saw that they brought Phil in a very good position, while today was even better. It was a good sprint from Phil. Second place is a very good result considering the sprinting lineup at this race. There is one more sprint stage, and we’ll try to improve and fight for the victory.”
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