Stage


Stage 6 results: Francisco Ventoso (Movistar Team) wins the exhausting uphill sprint finish in Fiuggi


26 Big Photos from Stage 6 — sirotti/rcs
Stage 6 results
1  Francisco Ventoso  (Movistar Team)        5:15:39
2  Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) 
3  Roberto Ferrari (Androni) 
4  Danilo di Luca (Katusha) 
5  Davide Appollonio (Sky) 
6  Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) 
7  Christophe Le Mevel (Garmin-Cervélo) 
8  Gerald Ciolek (Quick Step) 
9  Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) 
10 Ruggero Marzoli (Acqua&Sapone) 

General classification after Stage 6
1  Pieter Weening (Rabobank)             20:15:12
2  Kanstantin Siutsou (HTC-Highroad)       + 0:02
3  Marco Pinotti (HTC-Highroad) 
4  Christophe Le Mevel (Garmin-Cervélo)    + 0:05
5  Pablo Lastras (Movistar Team)           + 0:22
6  Vicenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale)    + 0:24
7  Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD)           + 0:26
8  Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank)            + 0:28
9  Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-SunGard)    + 0:30
10 José Serpa (Androni Giocattoli)         + 0:33
Full/Official Results and GC — gazzetta.it
Ventoso sprints to stage win in Fiuggi — cyclingnews
Giro, fiesta Ventoso Petacchi, che peccato — gazzetta.it
Petacchi trapt op zijn adem, Ventoso wint — sporza.be
Ventoso had picked Fiuggi stage ahead of Giro d'Italia — cyclingnews
Petacchi proud of second place finish in Fiuggi — cyclingnews
Contador biding time in Giro d'Italia — cyclingnews
Visconti's Giro d'Italia hampered by knee injury — cyclingnews
 Processo alla tappa - 6ª tappa/ Post-Stage Show (1 hour, Italian) — raisport.rai.it
26 Big Photos from Stage 6 — sirotti/rcs

This stage preview is available in the following languages:

(We are looking for translations in ALL other languages. Please submit your translation with the stage no. and language in the subject title. If you don't see your preview posted within 12 hours then please resend your preview as an attachment if you didn't already do so because we've had problems with some inline character sets like German.)

May 10 post: The riders probably wish this stage was scheduled before a rest day because the finish takes place in a spa town, Fiuggi Terme. Long ago, this town got glowing endorsements that a tourism board nowadays can only dream about. In the 13th century, Pope Boniface VIII claimed his kidney stones had been healed by the mineral waters from the nearby Fiuggi spring and two centuries later Michelangelo also extolled the virtues of the water that cured him of what he called "the only kind of stone I couldn't love." (wikipedia). Who knew Mick had a good sense of humor?

Stage 6 starts to the north in yesterday's (stage 5) finish host, Orvieto, before heading south towards Rome. But, before hitting the suburbs of Rome we'll veer southeast and head to Fiuggi. In 1996, Stage 9 of the Giro finished in Fiuggi after an approach from the south (Naples). Thursday's route from the north will have a relentless amount of rolling but there is only one categorized climb, a cat 4 in the first half of the stage which hits a modest 450m elevation. The highest point of the day will be the finish in Fiuggi (616m el).

As you can see from the finish profile link below, there is a 4% section 10 km from the finish stretching 5 km with the final 5 km consisting of rollers before the last 500m turns up to 4% again.

On further reflection, this finish may be too gradual for a power climber. In 1996, the Tirreno-Adriatico finished in Fiuggi and the results show some good sprinters and classic riders at the top but I'm not sure where the finish was. Oscar Gatto (Farnese Vini) is a good sprinter and he finished 5th on Wednesday's tougher Stage 5 climb so he'd be a good outside bet for a dead-legs sprint finish. Gatto finished second behind Matt Goss in the 1st Stage of Giro delle Regione (a U23 race) in 2006 when both were in their early twenties so he should remember the finish in Fiuggi. — Steve