Marcel Kittel powers to second stage win at Tirreno-Adriatico

The German sprinter was the fastest, beating Peter Sagan and Max Richeze on the line

Stag6 was the shortest stage at just 153 kilometres, flat with a bunch sprint expected.

Early a breakawy of four riders including; Marcus Burghardt (Bora-Hansgrohe), Artem Nych (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Krists Neilands (Israel Cycling Academy) and Jacopo Mosca (Wilier Selle Italia) got away and built up a maximum lead of three minutes.

With 70 kilometres to go, Burghardt attacked and his breakwaay companions chased,

Greg Van Avermaet and Patrick Bevin (BMC) took advantage of the intermediate sprint points, with race leader Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky) not in the mix. Damiano Caruso is just three seconds behind Kwiatkowski on GC.

With 20 kms to go, Burghardt was reeled in by the peloton as Quick-Step Floors set the pace, for their sprint ace Fernando Gaviria.

But with seven kilometres to go, there was a big crash bringing down dozens of riders, including Gaviria, who later found out me he fractured his hand,

The crash was skillfully avoided by Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) who hit Gaviria but managed to stay upright, amazingly get back into the race and contest the sprint.

But it was Marcel Kittel, fromKatusha-Alpecin who had the better legs to take his second victory in the race. Sagan was second and Maximiliano Richeze (Quick-Step Floors) was third.

Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky) keeps the leader's jersey after arriving safely with the pack, with a slim margin ahead of tomorrow's individual time trial. Can he hang onto the race lead?

VIDEO: 2018 Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 6 Highlights

2018 Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 6 Top 10

1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 3:49:54 
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe   
3 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors   
4 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale   
5 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors   
6 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal   
7 Marco Canola (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini   
8 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates   
9 Eduard Grosu (Rom) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Europa Ovini   
10 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin

2018 Tirreno-Adriatico GC after Stage 6

1 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 25:21:22 
2 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:00:03 
3 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:23 
4 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:29 
5 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:34 
6 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:36 
7 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:37 
8 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:39 
9 George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:41 
10 Jaime Roson (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:47