Tirreno-Adriatico: Alaphilippe wins bunch sprint on stage 6

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Sometimes, the plan doesn't quite come together, yet still, Deceuninck-QuickStep go on winning. It's that kind of year. The penultimate stage of Tirreno-Adriatico seemed to lend itself to Elia Viviani's sprinting talents, but instead, it was Julian Alaphilippe who claimed victory for the Belgian squad in Jesi.

Deceuninck-QuickStep spent much of the afternoon working to peg back the day's early break and when the men in blue massed on the front of the peloton in the final kilometre, the scene looked set for Viviani to land his second stage victory of the week.

The Italian champion seemed to lose his way somewhat in a chaotic finale, however, and opted to latch onto Peter Sagan's rear wheel as the sprint unfolded. Up ahead, meanwhile, his teammate Max Richeze was delivering a pitch-perfect lead-out for the irrepressible Alaphilippe, and the Frenchman, though hardly on his preferred terrain, produced a scorching acceleration to carry off the spoils.

David Cimolai (Israel Cycling Academy) took second place while Viviani eventually picked his way around Sagan to claim third. Clement Venturini (AG2R La Mondiale) came home in fourth, just ahead of Sagan.

It was Alaphilippe's second victory of this Tirreno-Adriatico and, remarkably, his sixth of the season to date. Already a contender for Milan-San Remo after his triumph at Strade Bianche last week, Alaphilippe has elevated himself to the rank of outright favourite after he beat a full complement of fast men in Jesi.

Viviani's expression on crossing the finish line suggested that this particular victory had been a deviation from the preordained script, though Alaphilippe explained afterwards that he had agreed on an adlib with the Italian ahead of the final lap of the 12.5km finishing circuit.

"We wanted to do a good lead-out for Elia, but on the last lap, he told me if I wanted to try the sprint... I said 'OK, I will be your last lead-out man,'" Alaphilippe said. "In the end, Max Richeze did a really impressive last big pull, and I was behind. I saw the line at 200 metres and I just went full gas. It's incredible."

It was a day of relative détente in the battle for overall honours, with the contenders all finishing safely in the main body of the peloton. Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) will wear the blue jersey into Tuesday's concluding time trial in San Benedetto del Tronto. He maintains a lead of 25 seconds over Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) ahead of the 10.1km test along the Adriatic sea, while Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) lies a further 10 seconds back in third.

Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) remains fourth overall, at 1:55, while the 5th-placed Alaphilippe's stage winner's time bonus means that he is now 2:34 behind Yates.

How it unfolded

After a weekend for the puncheurs, Monday's stage was always likely to end in a bunch finish, though that did not make for any shortage of willing attackers in the opening kilometres of the race. Davide Ballerini (Astana), Ben King (Dimension Data), Gijs Van Hoecke (CCC Team), Mirco Maestri (Bardiani-CSF), Igor Boev (Gazprom-Rusvelo), José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) and Dayer Quintana (Neri Sottoli-Selle Italia-KTM) had their day passes stamped shortly after the gruppo left Matelica, and their lead approached three minutes by the time they crossed the summit of the day's lone classified climb, the Valico di Pietra Rossa.

With Deceuninck-QuickStep, UAE Team Emirates and Bora-Hansgrohe forming a loose coalition behind, the escapees were allowed a foothold but little more, and their advantage only fleetingly stretched beyond the three-minute mark. Maestri availed of his freedom to claim both intermediate sprints and move into the orange jersey of points leader.

The stage concluded with three laps of a 12.6km finishing circuit in Jesi, and by the time the break crossed the finish for the first time, it was already apparent that the peloton was in full control of the situation.

With two laps remaining, the gap was down to 1:40, and this prompted Rojas and Ballerini to go on the offensive, with Van Hoecke giving forlorn pursuit. Deceuninck-QuickStep and Bora-Hansgrohe were now fully committed to the chase, however, and they began to pick off the remnants of the break. Come the bell lap, Rojas and Ballerini were just 38 seconds clear of an Yves Lampaert-led bunch.

In the frantic closing kilometres, Ballerini opted to press on alone, but his resistance was finally broken with a shade over 3 kilometres remaining. On the final approach to the line, Deceuninck-QuickStep seized definitive control of affairs at the head of the peloton, seemingly with Viviani in mind.

In the end, it was Alaphilippe who emerged victorious. The Via Roma awaits, even if he downplayed his sprinting prowess afterwards. "I'm not a sprinter, no," Alaphilippe said, "but I know I can do a good sprint, especially after some hard days."

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