Giro D Italia Points Jersey
Bora-Hansgrohe 's Pascal Ackermann sprinted to the cyclamen-coloured points jersey at this year's Giro d'Italia, taking two stage victories along the way and becoming the first German rider to win.
For a rider who’s delivered such finish-line nuggets as “race is race, was like was,” and, “I do like Forrest Gump; when they told him to run, he ran, so when they tell me to win, I win,” Peter Sagan added another one to his repertoire Tuesday.
Moments after just missing his first career Giro d’Italia stage victory in a photo finish to Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), Sagan quipped, “It was like it was.”
- The GIRO D'ITALIA Maglia Ciclamino jersey is the point classification jersey of Giro d'Italia. Reduced price!-30%.
- Where green is the colour of the points (or top sprinter) jersey in the Tour de France, the Giro puts the peloton's best climber in green. Petacchi, Savoldelli share spoils.
The Bora-Hansgrohe star couldn’t have been closer to winning without crossing the line first in Tuesday’s fourth stage. No one really knew who won until judges reviewed the finish-line tape.
“It was very close,” Sagan said. “I didn’t know if I was second or third or if I won. Everyone was on the line and I was just waiting to see the result.”
It was like it was, but Sagan earned another trip to the winner’s podium, this time to take the lead in the points jersey competition. Sagan takes over from stage 2-winner Diego Ulissi (UAE-Emirates), and now leads with 57 points. Démare moved into second, with 52 points.
“I am in the front with a few points, and I will keep trying to go like this,” he said.
Sagan is clearly hungry for what would be his first career Giro stage victory. After two close calls to finish second in the first two sprints he’s contested so far in his Giro debut, he’s hoping it must be only a matter of time.
“I did my best,” Sagan said. “A sprint is like this, a lot of times like this situation I won. Sometimes it’s like that.”
Giro D'italia Merchandise
Sagan, however, is winless so far in 2020. Though he boasts 113 career victories, including three consecutive world titles, Sagan has not been able to punch first across the finish line yet this season. So far in the disrupted 2020 season, he’s been in the top five on 13 occasions, and also fell short of victory at the Tour de France, with third his best result in stage 10 and 21.
Even if he can muster a few wins at this Giro, Sagan is facing his worst season since he turned pro in 2010 in terms of outright victories. Last year, he won four times, and every other year throughout his trajectory he’s won multiple times more.
“Today our goal was to go for the win with Peter,” said Bora-Hansgrohe sport director Jan Valach. “We let only a small group go away, three riders, and then on the big climb of the stage, we put in a big effort to either drop the sprinters or at least make the race hard. Nearly all of the sprinters were dropped, except Démare and Matthews. In the finale, once again, the guys did a tremendous job, pulling hard and making it impossible for Gaviria’s group to bridge the gap. In the end, we lost by a hair’s breadth but there was nothing more we could do.”
With Démare emerging as a fast finisher, along with the menacing presence of Elia Viviani (Cofidis) and Fernando Gaviria (UAE-Team Emirates), Sagan was hoping to snag a win early to take off the pressure.
On Tuesday, Bora-Hansgrohe set a hard pace on the day’s main hurdle to try to gap the faster finishers. Démare and Viviani made it back, with Démare having the perfectly timed bike throw to win the stage.
“Our goal was to go very hard on the climb, and see what happened,” Sagan said. “The team did a great job, and after that, we went to the finish with Viviani and Démare, and it was like it was.”
What can Peter Sagan do to get a win?
“Peter gets now the ciclamino jersey, he’s in good form and in fact on the climb he was asking to go faster,” Valach said. “In the sprints he’s getting closer, so we look forward to a victory.”
© Provided by Cycling News Giro dItalia 2020 103th Edition 6th stage Castrovillari Matera 188km 08102020 Arnaud Demare FRA Groupama FDJ photo Dario BelingheriiBettiniPhoto2020Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) took his second Giro d'Italia win on Thursday's stage 6 in Matera, pushing across the line ahead of of Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb), with Fabio Felline (Astana) in third just behind.
Giro D'italia Points Jersey
Along with his 11th win of the 2020 season, Démare took the points jersey. Bora-Hansgrohe's Peter Sagan, wearer of the maglia ciclamino on the stage, ended in ninth place on stage 6. Démare stands in the clear lead of the points classification with 106 points, while Sagan trails in second place with 67, and Matthews lies third on 55 points.
Stage 6 of the Giro d'Italia took the peloton 188km from Castrovillari east across the 'instep' of Italy's boot to the ancient city of Matera in Basilicata. It was the first time since 2014 that the southern region hosted a stage finish, known for its stunning limestone dwellings that date back to the 10th century BC.
In the final kilometre Démare was not in the best position but jumped onto a move by Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Felline around the final two left-hand bends to surge ahead on the 2.6 per cent gradient to the line. Meanwhile, Sagan was stuck on the inside and and his sprint never got going.
João Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep) retained the race lead, 43 seconds ahead of Bahrain McLaren's Pello Bilbao. It was not free of trouble, as the 22-year-old Portuguese rider was hit by a UAE Team Emirates with 37km to go. Almeida had stopped to adjust his radio and was standing at the side of the road when McNulty and a teammate collided with the stationary Giro leader. All were able to regroup and continue, Almeida not losing any time.
Stage 7 will start in Matera for a flat, fast 143km to Brindisi. As the second-shortest road stage of the corsa rosa, it has 'bunch sprint” written all over it. It has been almost 50 years since the Giro last paused in the Adriatic city of Brindisi. The final 1,200 metres run straight as an arrow to the line, so tune in for the excitement.
Giro D'italia Odds
Watch the stage 6 highlights from the Giro d'Italia above.