Clarke devastated as Pedersen prevails on Stage 6 in Naples

Australian Simon Clarke cut a devastated figure after Stage 6 of the Giro d’Italia as Mads Pedersen emerged victorious to complete a grand slam of career sprint wins.

Mads Pedersen (L) won Stage 6 of the Giro d'Italia to the frustration of Simon Clarke Source: Getty

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Pedersen was part of the peloton that caught breakaway riders Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) and Alessandro de Marchi (Jayco-AlUla) with 300 metres remaining and went on to overtake Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) en route to victory in Naples.

Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious) could not respond and settled for second in the end, with Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates) finishing third and Australian Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in fourth.

Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM) meanwhile maintained his 28-second lead at the top of the general classification, with Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) finishing alongside him in the peloton.

Clarke appeared the favourite as the 162-kilometre stage ticked towards its final kilometre, having worked well together with de Marchi since the pair formed part of a five-man break earlier in the day.

The pair’s advantage over the chasing pack grew above two minutes with 25 kilometres to go, but neither rider could find the legs to prevent the peloton from overtaking them within 15 seconds of the line.

Instead, it was Pedersen who crossed in a chaotic sprint – one again without Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan) due to a crash – to add a Giro stage to his collection of Tour de France and La Vuelta victories.

“I’m pretty happy, it’s what we came for,” Pedersen said after the race.

“It’s nice to have a victory now, it was a tough day for the team and it’s nice to pay them back with a victory.

“It was pretty close; it was not easy to catch them for a long time. They had a lead of two minutes and we had to use all the guys available, it wasn’t easy.

“With 300 metres to go we caught them. I feel really sorry for those guys.”

“Devastating,” Clarke added. “It’s not nice to lose in that way.

“I would prefer to get caught with 10 kilometres to go. You can’t win them all, but if you don’t try then you never know.

“We needed 10, 15 more seconds. It’s just the way it was.”

Watch Stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia LIVE tonight via SBS On Demand from 7:05pm (AEST), with coverage on SBS VICELAND commencing at 8:30pm (AEST).