Mitchelton-Scott ruled the day for the 6th stage of the 2018 Giro d’Italia, taking a 1-2 finish on the Category 1 ascent to the Etna Astrophysical Observatory. Esteban Chaves gets the win, but it’s his teammate Simon Yates that moves into the maglia rosa. Chaves and Yates attacked successfully on the climb to open a significant gap over the G.C. favorites, reaching the peak 26 seconds ahead of the peloton.
Former race leader Rohan Dennis of the BMC Racing Team cracked on the climb, and fell to 6th place in the overall standings, 53 seconds back.
Speaking seconds after the stage finish, the stage winner Esteban Chaves said: “It’s unbelievable. I needed this for my comeback to the Giro after one year of absence. It was a really hard stage here at the end. I firstly thank Jack Haig for pulling so much in the breakaway. This 1-2 with Yates is like a dream.”
The race leader Simon Yates said: “Our tactic today isn’t what our sport director told us to do this morning. It was a crazy day with a lot of attacks going at the beginning. As Esteban was at the front with a pretty big group, it made me sit back. I could save some energy. It worked out perfectly. I felt good so I took my chance to ride across. Esteban had been out all day so he deserved the win. I knew I was taking the Maglia Rosa, which pleases me a lot.”
Stage 6 Brief Results:
- Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott)
- Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) s.t.
- Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) at 26″
- George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) s.t.
- Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) s.t.
- Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) s.t.
- Richard Carapaz (Movistar) s.t.
- Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) s.t.
- Fabio Aru (Team UAE) s.t.
- Chris Froome (Team Sky) s.t.
General Classification After Stage 6:
- Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) 22h 46′ 03″
- Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) at 16″
- Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) at 26″
- Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) at 43″
- Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) at 45″
- Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing Team) at 53″
- Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) at 1′ 03″
- Chris Froome (Team Sky) at 1’10”
- George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) at 1’11”
- Fabio Aru (Team UAE) at 1’12”
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