Tinkoff director Tristan Hoffman said in a team press release that he was pleased with his GC rider Rafal Majka's performance during stage 6 at the Giro d'Italia right up until the moment when he missed overall leader Tom Dumoulin's crucial attack.
"He missed the moment when Dumoulin attacked, which is a shame as I think he had the legs today, but then in the final he tried and showed that he's riding well. There was a tough head wind at the finish, which slowed him up, but it was a nice move. It was good to see that the boys hung in there for a long time today which is good for the coming stages - they've got good legs and this will be important on the tough stages to come."
Dumoulin countered Vincenzo Niabli's attack in the final three kilometres of the summit finish at Roccaraso. His move stuck and he finished fourth on the stage, picking up a handful of seconds on his GC rivals. Majka finished ninth, 11 seconds behind Dumoulin.
Break doesn't stick for Bisolti
Alessandro Bisolti (Nippo-Vini Fantini) was among the day's main breakaway that almost made it to the finish line but was caught with just a few kilometres from the line on the summit finish at Roccaraso.
The initial move included Eugert Zhupa (Wilier Trestina-Southeast) and Alexandr Kolobnev (Gazprom-Rusvelo). They were later joined by Lotto Soudal's Pim Ligthart and Tim Wellens, along with Laurent Didier (Trek Segafredo). Their gap extended to five minutes before the final summit, as teams behind started playing out their tactics. Lampre-Merida and Orica-GreenEdge applied pressure, GC riders set off attacks on the climb.
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Wellens attacked the breakaway and soloed to the victory, but the others were caught an the way to the finish line.
"What a pity! When we take the last climb I believed we could make it, I kept riding with my rhythm without respond to all the attacks of my competitors. In this way I came back to the Trek rider, but then I was finished for the long escape.
"If I start thinking about two years ago, it is incredible to be there! Tomorrow I will be back to help my team leader Damiano Cunego, today I had my chance thanks to the team, I trust on it, I hope I will have another one."
Siutsou attempts to thwart overall contender on climb to Roccaraso
Kanstantsin Siutsou (Dimension Data) was one of two riders along with Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) to try an attack on the peloton along the summit finish to Roccaraso. The Astana rider was the first to go, and Siutsou later followed, and although the pair could not bring back stage winner Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal), they managed to build time on their other rivals.
Fuglsang managed to stay away and finish second on the day, while Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) bridged across to finish third. Race leader Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) put in an attack of his own and finished fourth on the day, while Siutsou was caught and passed but hung on for fifth.
"It was a unique situation because normally Astana would start the final climb fast. When you see their 2nd rider attack, Fuglsang, and they normally ride for Nibali, you need to understand the situation. It was one I have seen many times before and nobody was following him because it was a reduced group. I wanted to follow him immediately but I didn't have space to move out of the group," he said in a team press release.
"So he had 30 seconds but I attacked and tried to control my pace when going across to him. When I reached him he tried to put me under pressure by going really hard but I just remained calm. The climb was very up and down and the flat piece was really windy but I was always focused and staying calm and patient, knowing the group behind are going to react soon because we had 45 seconds.
"Then we just went as hard as we could and waited to see who would arrive. Zakarin and Dumoulin came with 1km to go. I wasn't really feeling great in the last kilometers but then in the final when I had to close a small gap I could feel there was still something left in the legs. This was really good for the head, it showed me it is possible to stay in the front the next days, I just need to try."
UCI continues to check for Motors
Having already checked over 500 bikes since stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia last Friday, the UCI was again checking bikes for motors at the start town of Ponte. The UCI Technical team have been using a tablet to test the frames both on the top of team vehicles and prior to stage stages.
The UCI announced it was aiming to conduct 10,000 bike tests this season with the possibility of 1,500 alone at the Giro with the rate of 500 per week.
