It was a day when the contenders for this year’s Giro crown became fewer; many riders losing time as the road went up at Etna. Esteban Chaves and Simon Yates were celebrating a stage win and taking the race lead respectively. Nicolas Roche lost time and his team mate Rohan Dennis relinquished the leader’s jersey.
Having already suggested his general classification aspirations were more than likely over after losing so much time on stage 1 at the Giro, Nicolas Roche had his prognosis confirmed today.
And he will now focus on trying to take a stage having lost six minutes on stage 6 to Mount Etna.
The 33-year-old is well known for preferring lots of hard racing to whip him into top condition.
But before the Giro he had not raced for over a month, opting to train hard instead. While he has done well in the past by following that path, he said the lack of training opportunities in Israel did not help; especially after his break from racing.
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With only a designated circuit to train on at allotted times, over an hours drive from his hotel, Roche did very little cycling in the days before the TT opening stage last Friday.
He said it was the same for all of the riders. But for a man who needs to keep his body under pressure to get the best from it, the situation was a disaster for Roche.
While he said the TT course was one that would normally suit him, he lost 1:14 to winner Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb),
And though that didn’t necessarily mean riding for top 10 overall was out of the question, that plan was dealt a blow from the outset.
Roche’s further time loss today puts him in 36th place some 7:16 down. And with his BMC Racing team mate Rohan Dennis not climbing well today and losing the race lead, it seems Roche’s plan is now clear; forget the overall and chase a stage win.
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Today’s 164km stage from Caltanissetta to Etna was billed as the first big climbing test of this Giro and it didn’t disappoint.
A large early escape would ride away featuring some riders capable of big general classification performances.
In that group’s wake, the peloton was whittled down to a select group on the slopes of Etna.
Up ahead in the breakaway only Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) would survive. And as he neared the finish with only about 30 seconds lead on the favourites group, his team mate Simon Yates shot from that group and went after him.
The two riders then teamed up inside the final kilometre; Chaves taking the stage and Yates the leader’s jersey.
They finished 26 seconds clear of the eight-man group containing the main GC contenders.
It means Yates now has the race lead over Dumoulin by 16 seconds, with Chaves 3rd at 26 seconds.
Rohan Dennis lost 1:04 to Yates today and 38 seconds to the group of Dumoulin, a shaky looking Chris Froome (Team Sky), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and others.
Ryan Mullen (Trek-Segafredo) and Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) finished in 138th and 141st today; in a group 24:31 down.
Tomorrow’s stage 7 is a flat looking 159km from Pizzo to Praia a Mare. It could suit Mullen in a breakaway or Bennett in a sprint if it comes to that.
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