Fausto Masnada won the sixth stage of the Giro d’Italia and dedicatd the win to his late uncle while Valerio Conti grabbed the overall lead to give home fans an unexpected day of double joy on Thursday.
The two men had been part of a 13-man breakaway which was never chased by the peloton. Primoz Roglic, who started the day in the lead, cruised in with the pack 7mins 18sec behind Masnada.
Masnada is only in his second Giro was an unlikely candidate to provide a first home victory in this year’s race.
“I’m delighted,” Masnada said at the finish. “I’ve done it. I knew I was in good shape but it’s hard to win at the Giro d’Italia and I’ve done it. I dedicate the win to my uncle, who died just before the Giro d’Italia started. It was our team’s goal to win a stage.”
Conti was part of the original seven-man escape after 49 kilometres. Masnada, was part of a six-man pursuit that caught the leaders a few kilometres later.
With no long-term threats in the breakaway, the leading teams seemed happy to lend out the pink jersey.
“When the breakaway goes that was the plan,” said Antwan Tolhoek. “Very, very happy,” he said at the finish. “Repeat, very, very, very, happy.”
The two Italians dropped the rest of the breakaway with 29km to go early on the 15km Coppa Casarinelle climb.
While Conti had won one stage in the Vuelta in 2016 and was better placed in the general classification, Masnada was chasing the biggest stage victory of his career.
Masnada, who looked stronger, briefly tried to shake Conti, but, with the pink jersey awaiting, the UAE man held on grimly.
After a chat, the two worked together until the final kilometre, although Masnada had a scare when he had to swerve to avoid a dog.
By the final kilometre, the pair had 34 seconds over their pursuers and Conti was happy to pull Masnada to the line.
Giro d’Italia 2019 – stage 6 results (Cassino – San Giovanni Rotondo):
| 1 | Fausto Masnada (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) | 5:45:01 |
| 2 | Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) | +05” |
| 3 | José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) | +38” |
| 4 | Ruben Plaza (Israel Cycling Academy) | ,, |
| 5 | Giovanni Carboni (Bardiani-CSF) | +43” |
| 6 | Pieter Serry (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +54” |
| 7 | Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 8 | Nans Peters (AG2R La Mondiale) | +57” |
| 9 | Andrey Amador (Movistar) | ,, |
| 10 | Amaro Antunes (CCC) | ,, |
| 11 | Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) | +01’03” |
| 12 | Nicola Conci (Trek-Segafredo) | +02’18” |
| 13 | Guillaume Boivin (Israel Cycling Academy) | +07’17” |
| 14 | Koen Bouwman (Jumbo-Visma) | +07’19” |
| 15 | Lorenzo Rota (Bardiani-CSF) | ,, |
| 16 | Antwan Tolhoek (Jumbo-Visma) | ,, |
| 17 | Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) | ,, |
| 18 | Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 19 | Jan Bakelants (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 20 | Brent Bookwalter (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
Giro d’Italia 2019 – general classification after stage 6:
| 1 | Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) | 25:22:00 |
| 2 | Giovanni Carboni (Bardiani-CSF) | +01’41” |
| 3 | Nans Peters (AG2R La Mondiale) | +02’09” |
| 4 | José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) | +02’12” |
| 5 | Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) | +02’19” |
| 6 | Amaro Antunes (CCC) | +02’45” |
| 7 | Fausto Masnada (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) | +03’14” |
| 8 | Pieter Serry (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +03’25” |
| 9 | Andrey Amador (Movistar) | +03’27” |
| 10 | Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) | +04’57” |
| 11 | Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) | +05’24” |
| 12 | Nicola Conci (Trek-Segafredo) | +05’49” |
| 13 | Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | +05’59” |
| 14 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) | +06’03” |
| 15 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +06’08” |
| 16 | Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 17 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | +06’13” |
| 18 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) | +06’19” |
| 19 | Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Merida) | +06’20” |
| 20 | Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +06’26” |
