Tirreno-Adriatico stage 6 Live - Riders tackle the Queen Stage to decide the final overall

Over three hours of racing now and the average speed is climbing to 39.4kph with the breakaway's gap going back up to three minutes. 

50km to go

The gap between the peloton and the break has dipped under the three minute mark for the first time in a while. 

Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane) has won the KoM jersey. He has an unassailable lead over his nearest riders.  

KoM

1.  Andrea Pietrobon (ITA) Polti-VisitMalta 5pts
2. Samuele Battistella (ITA) EF Education-EasyPost 3pts
3. Magnus Cort (DEN) Uno-X Mobility 2pts
4. Benjamin Thomas (FRA) Cofidis 1pt

Abandon

Pelayo Sanchez (Movistar)

The Giro d'Italia stage winner has stepped off the bike after another day of struggling. 

Dylan Groenwegen (Jayco-AlUla) has been dropped with his teammate, Elmar Reinders, looking after him. This is going to be a long afternoon for him. 

60km to go

The break have just over three minutes as they start the Crispiero which is 5.5km long with an average of 5% but kicks of 15%. 

Here is that bizzare moment for Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) earlier today...

The peloton has now got the gap below four minutes with 3'45" between the break and peloton.

70km to go

The gap has started to close with the break having just over four minutes on the peloton. It briefly dropped under four minutes but now has leveled again. 

An absolutely bizarre moment for Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) in the break. He tried to give a bidon to a spectator but the spectator, in trying to grab the bidon, grabbed Thomas' handlebars with the Frenchman almost hitting the deck but used his track skills to stay upright. 

80km to go

It is a really beautiful stage today. The break have extended their advantage to 4'31" over the peloton. 

Abandon

Vito Braet (Intermarche-Wany)

Another rider leaving the race and means his team just has four riders left. 

100km to go

The breakaway have 3'28" on the peloton. 

Finally, the breakaway have a three minute gap on the peloton. The pace isn't particularly rapid but it is still quite close between the two groups. 

The teams of Q36.5, UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are leading the peloton for their leaders Tom Pidcock, Juan Ayuso and Jai Hindley. 

The gap between the peloton and the breakaway is now actually reducing and is at 2'38". 

120km to go

The breakaway's gap is still sitting at just under three minutes. With just over an hour of racing done, the peloton are keeping the break on a tight hold. 

The breakaway has formed and has a gap of just under three minutes. 

Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale)
Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek)
Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis)
Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
Chris Hamilton (Picnic-PostNL)
Samuele Battistella (EF Education-EasyPost)
Andrea Pietrobon (Polti-VisitMalta)
Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility)

Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) and Chris Hamilton (Picnic-PostNL) catch the breakaway. 

140km to go

Thomas (Cofidis) and Hamilton (Picnic-PostNL) are still in the gap around 35" down on the leading six riders. The peloton now said to be at 2'50".

This looks like the break of the day as the leader's now have two minutes on the peloton with the two chasers about 25" behind the front of the race. 

Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) and Chris Hamilton (Picnic-PostNL) are trying to bridge the now 40" gap up to the leading group of six riders. 

A group of six riders have a small gap:

Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale)
Chris Hamilton (Picnic-PostNL)
Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek)
Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
Samuele Battistella (EF Education-EasyPost)
Andrea Pietrobon (Polti-VisitMalta)
Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility)

Several more moves tried to get away with the likes of Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) but all came back before a new group got away. 

And, once again, the attackers are caught. 

Mathieu van der Poel goes again to try and form the morning's breakaway. 

Battistella and his fellow attackers are caught. The fight for the break starts again. 

The first attacker of the day was Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck). But he was swiftly caught. Now, Samuele Battistella (EF Education-EasyPost) is clear of the bunch. 

The sun is shining on the riders early on in today's stage. A second day in a row where the dry weather has come for the riders after two torturous days in rain and cold earlier in the week.  

Several early attacks going off the front. 

163km to go

The official start is given and racing begins on the Queen Stage of the 2025 Tirreno-Adriatico! 

They are currently using a blow torch to dry the roads at the finish of today's stage... The race organiser's commentator, Carlton Kirby, shows how it looks at the finish and the bizarre dry techniques used... 

Sign on is complete and the riders will be getting ready for the neutral roll out of Cartoceto.

In addition to the nine abandons yesterday, Bram Welten (Picnic-PostNL) will not take to the start today. 

Yet more frustration for Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) as the former world champion comes close to another stage win as he continues building towards Milan-Sanremo...

>>> 'That sucks a bit' - Mathieu van der Poel misses out on Tirreno-Adriatico win but passes another Milan-San Remo test 

Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) kept hold of his leader's jersey despite late mechanical but the Italian star still complains about bad luck...

>>> 'Every time I ride well, something happens' - Filippo Ganna unable to break the chain of disappointment at Tirreno-Adriatico 

Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) has a simple view of today's stage with only FIlippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) in his way as he searches for the blue jersey at the end of today...

>>> 'We'll have to drop Ganna' - Juan Ayuso targets Tirreno-Adriatico victory on Saturday's mountain finish   

The so called 'Queen Stage' is here with the summit finish up to Frontignano coming at the end of a relatively short 163km stage. The final climb is 7.7km long with an average gradient of 7.8% with a max kick of just under 11% at the halfway point. 

Hello and welcome to CyclingNews' live report for the sixth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico 2025