Giro d’Italia 2015 – Stage 6 Preview

By David Hunter

Montecatini Terme – Castiglione Della Pescaia 183km

It seems like an eternity has passed since the sprint on stage 2, or certainly that’s what the sprinters are thinking. Well, time for the sprinters to return to the party.

The route is flat, apart from the middle section of around 50km. There is just the one categorised climb, the cat 4 Pomarance. It’s around 5km at 5%, so shouldn’t cause any alarms. We have a few more kick ups, before settling into a nice, long run for home. The final 60km of the race is either downhill or flat and provides the teams plenty of time to bring the race back together.

All the sprinters will be looking forward to this stage. Stage 7 does provide another opportunity, but it’s a very long stage, with a demanding finish. This is the only flat sprint of the first week, quite an achievement for the orgainsers.

Back on stage 2, Elia Viviani, timed his sprint to perfection. He just edged Moreno Hofland into 2nd place, with Greipel in 3rd. That sprint was very messy, this should be much more structured.

Andre Greipel comes in as the fastest rider in the bunch. The only issue for Andre, is that Lotto don’t have their normal train. They will use Adam Hansen to position Henderson and Greipel, inside the final 2km, but then they have to do it all themselves. They would dearly love to have Marcel Sieberg here, to do that final job, but they don’t. That means once Hansen pulls off, Henderson has to sit at the back of another train and then make his move. As it’s a flat sprint, he’ll look to move at around 600metres and deliver Andre with 250metres to go. If Greipel gets to the front, no one is powerful enough to pass him.

The other teams are fully aware of this and will try to stop it from happening. Trek look to have the best lead-out train. With the whole team focused on Nizzolo, they have a great chance. There are two bonus sprints in the stage, after 10km and 145km. It will be interesting to see their approach, as he certainly wasted some energy in stage 2. They will use Coledan and Silvestre, to keep the pace high, saving Van Poppel and Alafaci for the final 1km. A dedicated lead-out is certainly a massive advantage for Nizzolo, especially in a flat sprint. He has a good chance of success.

Lampre Merida almost spoilt the party, in SanRemo. As usual, they arrived late with Richeze and Modolo. They really have become experts at timing their move to perfection. They hang back a little, and then bang! Expect the same move, but the flat finish isn’t perfect for Sacha, he does prefer a tougher end to a stage. He wasn’t best pleased with Nizzolo, for pushing him off Richeze’s wheel, but I thought Nizzolo was simply stronger.

Viviani took the spoils in stage 2, and he’ll be hoping for a repeat performance. The nature of that sprint, negated his lack of a lead-out. Eissel and Puccio delivered him into an okay position, but it was his own timing that won the stage. In a flat sprint, positioning is vital, so he’ll be at a disadvantage compared to Nizzolo. In the favour of Viviani, is his top end speed. He’s capable of shifting! Always a nice quality in a sprinter. He has a good chance but is he really capable of back to back sprint wins?

Luca Mezgec really just has Nikias Arndt for company. This makes his job quite difficult but he is another talented rider, with a very fast sprint. He won the final stage of the 2014 Giro, and he’ll be looking for a better finish than on stage 2. If Giant can get the timing right, the Slovenian has a good chance of a podium spot.

Moreno Hofland was unlucky to lose to Viviani. Another without a train, he positioned himself on the wheel of Greipel. When Andre moved too soon, it turned into a great lead-out for the Dutch star. He didn’t do anything wrong, it was just that Viviani timed his sprint to perfection. Again, the flat finish will make it harder for him to win.

Michael Matthews has expended a lot of energy in the first week and could be a little tired. The flat sprint isn’t really his cup of tea, despite having a strong team. If tired, don’t be surprised to see Simon Gerrans getting involved. Orica time their attacks perfectly and whoever is sprinting, will be delivered to the head of the race, at the right time.

The other sprinters who will be looking to challenge are: Ruffoni, Boonen, Pelucchi, Lobato, Colli, Belletti and Porsev. In a flat sprint, Ruffoni and Pelucchi seem like good options for a top 5 spot.

The last 8km of the race takes place on flat rounds with only two turns at 2.7km and 2.3km. This is perfect for the sprint trains. Expect to see a drag battle inside the closing kilometres and it really does favour Trek and whoever can get onto their wheel. The weather is going to be fine and dry, so this really is a perfect day for sprinting.

Prediction Time

We’ll get a normal stage and a sprint finish. Trek will try to dominate the lead-out but watch for Henderson hitting the front. He’ll launch Greipel and that should be that. I would be astonished if Greipel lost a flat sprint to any one of these other riders.

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