The longest stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, at 226km, was set to be a battle of the fast men. With the two categorised climbs out of the way with 100km still to race, the sprinters were bound to make their presence known in Foligno at the end of the day – if they could make it round a tricky right-hand bend just 250m from the line. Ignoring the sprinters’ ambitions for the stage, a group of six escaped early on, building a lead of six minutes at its peak. However, this didn’t last, with the peloton making a concerted effort to reduce the gap to a more manageable distance, while two members dropping off the escape group made it easier to draw them in. With just over 10km to go, the gap was just thirty seconds, the break clinging to their lead to the final 4km, but once it was back together it was on for the sprint finish. BORA-hansgrohe drove the pace high, stringing out the bunch as speeds ramped up for the final push. The late bend at the end meant there was no chance for sprint trains to form, and the Slovak National Champion, Peter Sagan, had to stay at the front, starting his sprint as soon as the road was straight. In spite of his sickness having sapped his energy, Peter held his own, just being beaten to the win on the line and taking second after a strong effort – an excellent performance in one of the longest days of the season so far.
Results
01 E. Viviani 5:26:45
02 P. Sagan +0:00
03 F. Gaviria +0:00
04 G. Nizzolo +0:00
From the Finish Line
“I knew it wouldn’t be an easy sprint but I wanted to give it a try. Although my form is still not at the level it should be right now, I was feeling quite better today. I’d like to thank the rest of the team for their great work, especially in the final kilometres where they put me in a perfect position. It was a nice sprint and close finish, something to be expected when you are against strong sprinters like Gaviria and Viviani. I’m improving day by day and in every stage, we will try to get the best result we can.” – Peter Sagan
“It was a long stage and our focus was to work for Peter and the sprint finish. The guys did a good job in the stage and in the finale, they were there and brought Peter in a good position. He was the first to launch his sprint and in the end, got second place. It was a very good result, taking into consideration the problems he had during the last weeks. We see this as a sign he’s getting stronger every day which, combined with the nice job by the team, makes us feel satisfied.” – Enrico Poitschke, Sports Director.
