It was a showdown between the top sprinters in the race, with Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) in position at the head of affairs on teammate Jacopo Guanieri’s wheel coming into the final 250 metres. Mark Cavendish (QuickStep Alpha Vinyl) launched the sprint first, surging away with Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) following him and Démare reacting to the jump and slotting in behind.
The Australian moved to overtake Cavendish but Démare came hard from behind and on the throw of their bikes, neither celebrated as it looked too close to call. A photo finish revealed that Démare had won by the slimmest of margins, less than the width of a tyre.
"It was a really calm stage and everybody had fresh legs," Démare said. "Yesterday it was a collective job and today we had everyone as well. At each roundabout we were perfectly placed.
"At around 500 metres, Jacopo did a great job and I got myself into the wheels. The sprint lasted about 100 metres and I managed to get there.”
Démare then had to suffer a nervous wait for the results of the photo finish, crediting the win to a superior bike throw.
"It was right on the line,” said Démare. “I felt like I was in front but you never know. I'm really happy. We knew it was going to be really close. I threw the bike and that was the difference."
"I thought maybe it was me that was second until we saw the photo. I felt I needed to find a way out – I couldn't go left, so I had to go right and had to go further around to the right because Ewan was there. I needed to get to the front and not make the mistake that Ewan made on the first day.”
Ewan meanwhile continued a run of misfortune at the Giro d’Italia adding to his Stage 1 crash, Stage 3 poor leadout and Stage 5 mechanical with this near miss. He opted to follow Mark Cavendish’s train throughout the final kilometres, which his teammates used to move him up into that position, rather than battle for supremacy.
“The team did what they had to do today and dropped me off perfectly,” said Ewan. “That way, I could start my sprint when I wanted to.
“It looked very good but in the end I just got beaten by an inch on the line. Of course, I’m really disappointed to just miss out on the stage victory. But we need to take away from today that it could have gone our way as well. The shape and the team are there and of course I am keen on taking revenge.”
Cavendish finished third, with the other main issue of note a bizarre sprinting line by Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) that almost saw him cause a crash with Cees Bol (Team DSM). He was relegated by the commissaires.
The rest of the stage was a sedate affair, with Diego Rosa (EOLO-Kometa) the lone rider keen to attempt a breakaway. He was kept at a lead of four minutes by a peloton led by Thomas de Gendt as the race made its way up the Calabrian coast.
The Giro d’Italia continues on SBS with Stage 7 from 7.30pm (AEST) on SBS On Demand, with the SBS broadcast starting at 10.50pm (AEST). WA viewers can tune in from 9pm (AWST) on SBS VICELAND.
