Hat trick for Primoz Roglic in Tirreno-Adriatico

The Slovenian rider of Jumbo-Visma leaves practically certified his final victory after winning the 6th stage of Tirreno-Adriatico that proposed a very interesting circuit marked by the two hard climbs that the riders had to face as a prelude to each pass through the finish line. Despite not showing an overwhelming superiority, Primoz Roglic won the three main stages of the race, enough to secure the leader's maglia azzurra.

Jumbo-Visma played with fire, but came out on top

After the frustration of yesterday's stage, the supposed queen stage of this Tirreno-Adriatico, today the cyclists have given us an exciting day of cycling in a very hard stage that could well be, by itself, one of the Italian classics that fill the end of the calendar each season.

The cyclists faced a route around the town of Osimo, with a circuit of 34 kilometers to which they made 4 laps after an approach section to complete a total of 193 km, in a new day of long kilometers, something unusual in these times. The route was marked by two very hard climbs, short but very steep, which, linked together, preceded the passage to the finish line.

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Until the arrival at the circuit, the peloton, as usual, let the breakaway of the day, in which a willing Davide Bais sneaked in the fight for the mountains jersey that he had lost yesterday. However, today he had bad companions as the level in the breakaway was much higher than in previous days with men like Gianni Vermeersch, Nikias Arndt, Mike Teunissen, Quinn Simmons or Alessandro de Marchi among the 11 that made up the leading group.

However, an ambitious Jumbo-Visma set an intense pace behind that did not let them take more than two and a half minutes at any time. However, the race would change when, in the second of the laps, still 72 km from the finish, Santiago Buitrago launched a brave attack. He quickly gained around a minute's gap and, from the breakaway, Arndt dropped back to offer him his wheel and take him to the lead.

However, this move did not worry the Jumbo-Visma men, who continued with their tactic of leading the race at a crushing pace. A pace that was increasing until, upon reaching the penultimate uphill climb, it was Wout Van Aert himself who took the lead and put the tunnel machine to work to completely destroy the race, including his own team, leaving only Roglic at his side and the rest of the favorites. Fortunately for them, Kelderman would make an important effort up top to connect, but soon he would fall.

This left Jumbo-Visma in a dangerous situation, with 30 kilometers to go and only one man to help their leader, surrounded by all the members of the top 10 overall. At one point, on the way up to the final pass, Vlasov attacked and Primoz Roglic had to respond in the first person.

It was the start of a final lap that promised to be exciting, especially when Guillaume Martin took off on a small climb and was joined by Vlasov, Aranburu and Verona. Four top riders who quickly opened a gap of 27 seconds and that, at that moment, left Vlasov as virtual leader.

However, Jumbo-Visma was faced with the unexpected return to the main group of Tiesj Benoot, who spent his last forces to contain the bleeding of seconds and give a break to Van Aert and Roglic. However, the Belgian could contribute little more and, with Van Aert without his usual spark, the gap was maintained and put uncertainty to the race before the final two climbs.

INEOS Grenadiers entered in front at the start of the penultimate climb, managing to close the gap with the front, just when they reached the hardest part, with ramps close to 20%. Mikel Landa took advantage of this moment, 5 kilometers from the finish line, to launch a hard attack, one of those that make the fans vibrate, clinging to the bottom and that ended up destroying the race.

An attack sustained by the steep streets of Osimo and that was the last blow to the aspirations of Lennard Kamna who could not get hooked to the wheel, unlike Roglic, Mas, Carthy, Almeida or Tao Geoghegan. Someone else would get in after crowning this first climb, which left us with a more than predictable finish after what we had seen in previous days.

Enric Mas tried to make a strong move but was perfectly controlled by Tao Geoghegan and Roglic, who, once again making the most of his superb finish, managed to win the stage, making it clear that, although he is still far from his best form, he has enough class to win and, most importantly, he is fully recovered from the crashes that affected his 2022 season.

Classification Stage 6

1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 4h49’17’’
2. Tao Geoghegan (INEOS Grenadiers) +00’’
3. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +00’’
4. Enric Mas (Movistar Team) +00’’
5. Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) +00’’
6. Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) +03’’
7. Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) +09’’
8. Michael Woods (Israel-PremierTech) +09’’
9. Thomas Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers) +20’’
10. Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) +20’’

Overall Classification

1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 25h06’21’’
2. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +18’’
3. Tao Geoghegan (INEOS Grenadiers) +23’’
4. Lennard Kamna (Bora-Hansgrohe) +34
5. Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) +37’’
6. Enric Mas (Movistar Team) +41’’
7. Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) +56’’
8. Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) +57’’
9. Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +01’10’’
10. Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) +01’11’’