Pelayo Sánchez surprises with a great victory in the 6th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2024

The breakaway arrived again in the sixth stage of the Giro d'Italia 2024 and the victory ended up in the hands of Pelayo Sánchez. The young pearl of the Movistar Team gave a lesson in maturity to be able to beat in the sprint none other than Julian Alaphilippe in the stage that covered the beautiful landscapes of Tuscany, of course, adorned by the essential sterrato sections so characteristic of the region.

Victory in the Giro d'Italia 2024 for Movistar Team by Pelayo Sánchez

When many have their eyes set on the decisive time trial tomorrow, it was time to face a challenging day between the towns of Torre del Lago Puccini and Rapolano Terme, 180 kilometers where the race entered Tuscany. Of course, the organization of the Giro d'Italia 2024 could not miss the opportunity to include sterrato in the route although, on this occasion, in a much more moderate way than in previous editions, with just three sections, without excessive complications and with the last one located more than 20 kilometers from the finish line.

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As expected, the breakaway of the day was going to be highly valued since, the proximity of the time trial, surely caused the favorites to ride more cautiously while, the toughness of the route, made it a breakaway only suitable for high-level cyclists.

This meant that, for more than 50 kilometers, where the pace was very intense, none of the attempts succeeded. It was necessary to wait for the first difficulty of the day, the Volterra climb, classified as a 4th category, to see the first breakaway prosper, in which Julian Alaphilippe, Aurelien Paret-Peintre, Matteo Trentin, and Filippo Fiorelli sneaked in.

After cresting, there was a rolling terrain where attacks continued in the peloton, with numerous units coming to the front, where there was also a desire for the breakaway to be as selective as possible. Finally, a group was formed with people like Kaden Groves, Andrea Vendrame, Luke Plapp, Alaphilippe, and Movistar Team cyclist Pelayo Sánchez.

The breakaway of the day finally managed to consolidate itself but with an advantage that did not go much beyond 3 minutes and where Luke Plapp, the best classified in it, became the virtual pink jersey wearer in many moments.

We arrived at the dirt sections that were much less decisive than on other occasions although the second one, the ascent to Grotti, also one of the usual sectors at the beginning of the Strade Bianche, served to select the breakaway, leaving a trio formed by Julian Alaphilippe, Luke Plapp, and Pelayo Sánchez in front, who at that moment had clear possibilities of fighting among themselves for the stage victory in this Giro d'Italia 2024.

Meanwhile, behind, the sections passed with some tension due to the high pace of an organized INEOS-Grenadiers that significantly selected the group but did not try to go further, as we said, with an eye on tomorrow's time trial.

For a moment, the impetus of the riders from the British team seemed like it could break down the breakaway, which left the last sterrato section with an advantage of just one minute. There was still a small trap left, one of those that the Giro d'Italia always likes to set. The ascent to the town of Serre di Rapolano, a very tough wall of just over 1 km with ramps reaching 20%.

A wall that gave us a nice spectacle of attacks and counterattacks in the breakaway although none of them succeeded, with the three cyclists cresting together. Behind, the same calm tone where only Romain Bardet tried to break with an attack to maintain a high pace that did not achieve its goal.

The three escapees crested with a 20-second advantage, a difference that would be maintained until the last kilometer where we witnessed an intense chess match between Pelayo Sánchez and Julian Alaphilippe. The Frenchman was the first to launch the sprint, just 200 m from the finish line. Plapp did not have the legs to respond and Pelayo Sánchez easily stuck to his wheel and managed to surpass him at the finish line with plenty of ease to achieve an indisputable victory while extending the drought of victories for the Soudal-QuickStep cyclist.

Stage 6 Classification

1. Pelayo Sanchez (Movistar Team) 4:01:08
2. Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) +00″
3. Lucas Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) +1″
4. Andrea Piccolo (EF Edudation-EasyPost) +24″
5. Jhonatan Narvaez (INEOS-Grenadiers) +29″
6. Luka Mezgec (Jayco-AlUla) +29″
7. Quinten Hermans (Jayco-AlUla) +29″
8. Nicholas Schultz (Israel-PremierTech) +29″
9. Daniel Felipe Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe) +29″
10. Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) +29″

General Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 23h20'52''
2. Geraint Thomas (INEOS-Grenadiers) 46''
3. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) +47''
4. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike) +55''
5. Einer Rubio (Movistar Team) +56''
6. Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana) +01'07''
7. Juan Pedro López (Lidl-Trek) +01'11''
8. Jan Hirt (Soudal-QuickStep) +01'13''
9. Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) +01'26''
10. Esteban Chaves (EF Education-EasyPost) +01'26''