On the 2016 Giro s first gentle taste of mountain air Dumoulin held off challengers for his pink jersey, finishing fourth.
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The Spaniard lost more seconds on stage six – four to Valverde and more than 20 to Dumoulin, but crucially he crossed the line with Nibali. I’ve got thank the belief of the team and thanks to Dumoulin who let us get away.
“Before the start, I said it would be a nice finish for me and it really was”. I was stronger than I expected.
“It was not a high mountain but it was still a proper climb today”.
Astana s Jakob Fuglsang got closest to Wellens, the Danish rider reaching the race s first summit finish in second, 1min19sec behind, with Russian Ilnur Zakarin on his rear wheel in third.
Fuglsang now sits second overall as Nibali came in down the field, but don’t expect to see another Tour de France 2015-like moment where Astana strip Nibali of the leadership because of one bad result.
Stage 6 victor Tim Wellens said in the press conference: “I was highly motivated to go on the attack today but when I missed the move of the three riders [Alessandro Bisolti, Eugert Zhupa and Alexander Kolobnev], I thought it was all over”.
However, he revealed it was Dumoulin who suggested he make an initial move away from the peloton after the descent midway through the ride closed the gap to the leaders. I’m enormously happy with this victory.
“We had to gamble a little bit and in the end we used two more riders with Lars Bak and [Tim] Wellens to chase the breakaway down”.
One of the rising stars of Belgian cycling Wellens was giving himself the flawless present to mark his birthday on Tuesday.
Yesterday, German veteran Andre Greipel won a tough uphill sprint in Benevento by a country mile to open up his account in a lumpy fifth stage of the Giro d’Italia.
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Wellens celebrated by lifting his bike above his head after crossing the line.
