Domenico Pozzovivo wins sixth Mountain Stage and takes the Lead
Pozzovivo attacked on the final descent and soloed across the finish line
The sixth stage was a mountain stage of 167 kilometers and included two HC Category climbs; one at 66. kilometers and the other shortly before the finish.
The breakaway of the day was established shorlty after the stage began with 9 riders; Jan Bakelants (AG2R-La Mondiale), Tomasz Marczynski and Bart De Clercq (Lotto-Soudal), Simone Petilli (UAE-Team Emirates), Antonio Pedrero (Movistar), Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac), Ondrej Cink (Bahrain-Merida), Carlos Verona (Orica-Scott) and Philip Deignan (Sky).
Matvei Mamykin (Katusha-Alpecin) later joined the breakaway which built up a lead of 2 minutes.
On the final climb of Abulapass, Michael Woods attacked his breakaway companions and got a 1m 30 secs lead. Jan Hirt (CCC) and Ondrej Cink chased.
In the peloton there were plenty of atatcks from Damiano Caruso (BMC), Pello Bilbao (Astana), Mikel Nieve (Sky), Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo), Marc Soler and Antonio Pedrero (Movistar) but none stuck. The increaed speed of the peloton reeled in all of the breakaway riders except Woods.
At the top of the Abulapass, Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R-La Mondiale) attacked and got away putting Damiano Caruso's lead at risk. The Italian chased the Canadian and worked together to maintain their lead over the rest of the peloton.
The rain made for some dangerous conditions. On the descent, Pozzovivo attacked, meanwhile Woods was caught by the peloton on the narrow wet roads. The Italian crossed the finish line ahead of Rui Costa (UAE-Team Emirates), Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida), Mathias Frank (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Simon Spilak (Katusha-Alpecin) who lead the chase out of the peloton.
By winning stage 6, Pozzovivo took the leaders jersey from Caruso, having exactly the same time as Caruso whilst out performing his rival in the opening prologue.
Giro d’Italia champion Tom Dumoulin pulled out of the race ahead of the start on Thursday citing fatigue. “He’s been tired for a few days and we thought it better to pull out and let him concentrate on next week’s national championships,” said Sunweb team leader Marc Reef. The 26-year-old Dutchman who clinched his first major tour two weeks ago had been 6min 30sec off the pace anyway.
Stage 7 on Friday June 16 from Zernez to Sölden is a 161 km Mountain Stage, that finishes wilth the HC climb of the Tiefenbachferner at 2,780m high.
2017 Tour de Suisse Stage 6 Top Ten
1 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 4:38:49
2 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:04
3 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
4 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
5 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:12
6 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
7 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:00:15
8 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:00:18
9 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team
10 Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:21
2017 Tour de Suisse GC after Stage 6
1 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 22:03:28
2 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team
3 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:13
4 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:22
5 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:23
6 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:35
7 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:54
8 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky 0:01:19
9 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:01:42
10 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:03:02