Esteban Chaves wins on Etna as Yates takes pink – Giro d’Italia
Giro d’Italia 2018
Stage 6
A Mitchelton-Scott masterclass on Mount Etna saw Britain’s Simon Yates soar into the pink jersey after finishing just behind Colombian team-mate Esteban Chaves in an explosive Stage 6 of the Giro d’Italia.
Yates showed his class by gifting his team-mate a memorable victory on the race’s first summit finish after Chaves starred in an early break in the 169km stage from Caltanissetta to the Etna Astrophysical Observatory.
With Chaves the last man standing from a 27-man break that also included team-mate Jack Haig, Yates attacked opportunistically from the select group of favourites inside the final two kilometres.
The two team-mates came together on the home straight and were able to savour the victory as Yates took over the race lead from Rohan Dennis (BMC) after the Australian was dropped near the summit.
It’s the first time the 25-year-old rider from Lancashire has led a Grand Tour and caps a sensation opening week in the 101st edition of La Corsa Rosa for Yates, who becomes the fourth Briton to wear the maglia rosa after Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins and David Millar.
Frenchman Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) led a chasing group over the line 26 seconds behind the victorious duo ahead of New Zealand’s George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Italian Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain Merida).
The select eight-man group also included defending champion Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) and his pink jersey rivals Chris Froome (Team Sky), Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) and Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana).
Dutchman Dumoulin now trails Yates by 16 seconds in the general classification as Chaves rises to third place, a further 10 seconds back.
Victory for the 28-year-old Colombian on the first major climb of the race saw Chaves take the blue king of the mountains jersey to cap an extraordinary day for the Australian Mitchelton-Scott team.
Dennis dropped to sixth place on GC behind Pozzovivo and Pinot, while Froome rose to eight place – 1’10” behind Yates – after a yo-yoing display on the demanding 20km final ascent.
A frantic start to the stage saw numerous thwarted breakaway attempts before a large group of 27 riders managed to open up a gap after an hour of relentless racing.
Despite the presence of one of the main GC favourites in Chaves, the break’s lead quickly grew to over three minutes as the BMC team of pink jersey Dennis seemed content to let their man Alessandro De Marchi do the talking.
Chaves and De Marchi were among the big names in a group-de-luxe that also included Team Sky duo Sergio Henao and David de la Cruz, Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates), Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo) and the last man to win on Etna, Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates).
The Astana team of under-fire Colombian Lopez eventually combined with Dennis’ BMC team as the gap came down to under two minutes ahead of the final climb, which was using the lesser-known fourth ascent of the Sicilian volcano for the first time in the Giro’s history.
Chaves, trailing Dennis by 47 seconds in the overnight standings, benefitted from some hefty pace-setting by team-mate Haig. But when the Australian dropped back, it was the Italian youngster Guilio Ciccone (Bardiani-CSF) who darted clear in two separate attacks.
Ulissi, Henao, Gesink, De Marchi and Chaves led the chase with the other remaining escapees Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb), Ben Hermans (Israel Cycling Academy) and Sebastian Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) until Chaves – aware that the gap back to the main pack was rapidly diminishing – darted clear with 6km remaining.
Behind, it was Lopez’s Astana team-mates Luis Leon Sanchez, Tanel Kangert and Jan Hirt who set a blistering pace as both Dennis and Froome were momentarily distanced on the steep mid-section of the climb.
If Froome fought back, Dennis was not so lucky – the 27-year-old eventually coming home over a minute down on Chaves to drop to sixth in the standings.
A chasing quartet of Yates, Pinot, Pozzovivo and Bennett mopped up the remnants of the break before the likes of Froome, Dumoulin, Lopez and Aru fought back, along with the impressive Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (Movistar).
Then, with 1.5km remaining and his team-mate still 25 seconds up the road, Yates took advantage of a slight lull to signal his intent with a strong attack to ride clear of his rivals.
Yates caught Chaves with 500 metres to spare and the two Mitchelton-Scott riders combined well to extend their lead and cap a perfect day with an historic one-two after Yates forewent personal glory and an extra four bonus seconds in favour of rewarding Chaves for his attacking riding.
“The start was a little crazy with all the attacks. I don’t know how Esteban managed to get in that break but it meant we could sit back, sit in the wheels and save some energy,” said Yates.
“I felt really good. I’m not really sure [what happened]. I looked across the road and everyone was looking at each other. There was a little bit of a gap so I took my chance and got across. In the end it worked out perfectly.”
Big losers in the Giro’s first major showdown included South Africa’s Louis Meintjes (Dimension Data) who conceded 3’30” and the Italian Davide Formolo of Bora-Hansgrohe, who lost over five minutes.
Stage 4 winner Tim Wellens’ hopes of a top 10 finish suffered a blow after the Belgian came home 5’55” down while Enrico Barbin’s stint in the maglia azzurra came to an end after the Italian from Bardiani-CSF finished third-last almost 20 minutes in arrears.
Yates will take the pink jersey across the Messina Strait as the race resumes on the Italian mainland with the 159km Stage 7 from Pizzo to Praia a Mare – and a chance for the sprinters to return to the fold.
With a brace of wins from Israel under his belt, Italy’s Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) will be favourite to make it a hat-trick and extend his lead in the maglia ciclamino points classification.
