Giro d’Italia. Zakarin very present on first mountaintop finish

Ilnur Zakarin proved he is ready for this Giro d’Italia. In the first stage, where the riders could show their climbing legs, Zakarin finished third. He is now also third in GC after six days of racing in the Giro d’Italia.

The victory in stage 6 from Ponte to Roccaraso (157 km) was for Belgian Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal). Tom Dumoulin defended well his maglia rosa in this Tour of Italy.

The race favorites awaited the final three uphill race kilometers to open the debates. Vincenzo Nibali (Team Astana) was the first to attack. Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale) and pink jersey Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) counterattacked.

Dumoulin and Pozzovivo went away, while later both riders saw Team KATUSHA‘s Ilnur Zakarin join them. Later on these three riders joined Konstantin Sivtsov (Team Sky) and virtual pink jersey Jacob Fuglsang (Team Astana), two of the riders in front. They just came too late to catch stage winner Tim Wellens. Behind Fuglsang, Zakarin finished third ahead of Tom Dumoulin.

-  The stage was hard, but the team supported me so well. At the beginning of the final climb I did not feel so good. There was a strong wind over there, but Pavel Kochetkov provided me precaucious help. Pavel protected me from the wind. Later on I started to feel better. In the last few kilomters there was a head wind. Nibali was the first to attack. When I saw Dumoulin and Pozzovivo counterattacking, I decided to follow their moves. In the final I did my best to finish as high as possible, - said Ilnur Zakarin.

- We knew it could be a hard stage with a tough final. Of course it was not a climb, that could provoke big gaps, but anyway it was clear that the contenders would try something. Our main plan was to support Ilnur during the day and to bring him in a good position for the final climb. I asked Ilnur to be concentrated and to follow the attacks of the main rivals in case somebody would try. So everything went quite perfect for us. Ilnur did a very smart and strong race. He counterattacked at the right moment and finished third. Today was just the first important day. Many other hard days are still to come, - added Team Director Dmitry Konyshev.

Early in the race three riders managed to get away. Alexander Kolobnev (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Alessandro Bisolti (Nippo-Vini Fantini) and Eugert Zhupa (Wilier Southeast). Those three were able to get a bonus of almost seven minutes. After Kolobnev dropped in the front, Tim Wellens and Pim Ligthart (both Lotto Soudal), together with Laurent Didier (Trek-Segafredo), decided to chase back the two riders in front. With success. Later on Sivtsov and Fuglsang managed to do the same. In the end only Tim Wellens was able to resist the action of Fuglang, Sivtsov and Zakarin.

It was a bad luck for Alexey Tsatevich, who crashed on the second part of the stage. Hopefully, he was able to come back and finish the race. With not too serious injures, Alexey hopes to continue the race.

Tomorrow’s stage 7 goes from Sulmona to Foligno (211 km) on a rolling parcours.