Giro d’Italia stage 6 preview: ‘Gravel stage is a great launchpad for Pogačar’ says Geraint Thomas

With Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) in pink and a whole host of contenders within a minute of his race lead, the Giro d’Italia is finely poised on the eve of the hotly-anticipated gravel-speckled stage between Viareggio and Rapolano Terme on Thursday.

With a little under 11km of Tuscan white roads, stage 6 is this year’s ode to Strade Bianche and is a day that has been circled in the roadbooks of the GC contenders since the route was first revealed.

“We did our recon about a week after the presentation in October,” Ineos Grenadiers sports director Zak Dempster told GCN. “Dario Cioni lives nearby so he reconned it already and then before Strade Bianche we made a point of taking the guys in the Giro team to check it out.

“To be honest it was a bit of a ball ache for them but it is worth it now and we’ve been well aware of what is coming - hopefully we are prepared.”

Ineos Grenadiers tip Tadej Pogačar to attack

As for what is coming, there is a lot to consider when looking at the route for Thursday’s stage. The 11km of gravel is not all that much when compared to sterrato stages of years gone by, but not only have the GC riders made their attacking intentions clear throughout the race so far, there are also two tricky climbs that need to be negotiated before the finish – the last of which has particularly caught the attention of second-placed Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers).

“I think for sure the sprinters could be there or thereabouts but it’s a tough final with a steep little climb at about 4km to go,” he told GCN. “Even before that it is obviously hard so I think it’s a great launchpad for Tadej again.”

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Thomas’ sports director Dempster likened the Serre di Rapolano climb (1.2km at 6.9%) to that seen in the finale of stage 1, implying that although Ineos Grenadiers have several riders able to win on the day, these talents may be best used to protect Thomas throughout the afternoon.

“There are launchpads,” he agreed. “I personally don’t think many of the sprinters will make it, but the sprinters are pretty strong too. The reality is that it is a key day on GC, it is a stage where we have guys that could probably win but at the same time, we need to go day by day.”

Survival the order of the day for GC contenders, as UAE play down their ambitions

© Getty Images

Geraint Thomas sits second on GC behind Tadej Pogačar at the Giro d'Italia

Despite the threat posed by Pogačar, the main thought on the minds of those with GC hopes was one of hesitation. For all the pomp and glory that a win over the white gravel roads could bring, teams are well aware that such a challenging parcours holds the possibility of derailing a rider’s Giro.

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Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) pointed to the need to keep his team leaders Damiano Caruso and Antonio Tiberi safe, whilst Visma-Lease a Bike’s Cian Uijtdebroeks made no bones about his ambitions, or lack thereof, on the stage through Siena.

“As a climber, it's survival, just like a cobbled stage in the Tour. Those aren't the most pleasant stages,” he told GCN and the Belgian press.

The 21-year-old currently sits fourth overall with the young rider’s jersey on his shoulders, and although the Belgian is making his Giro d’Italia debut this year, he is not a complete beginner on unpaved roads. He rode the Big Sugar Gravel race in America two years ago, placing in 28th after almost five and a half hours on the gravel of Arkansas.

“It will be a really tough stage, we need to see that we don’t have mechanicals on the gravel and we come safely through,” he said of stage 6. “It's not the stage where I say I'm going to take time, that's more in the high mountains for me. I want to finish as close as possible every day and so far that has worked out well.”

Even for the race leader and preeminent aggressor amongst the favourites to win this year’s race, Thursday’s stage appears to be one where defence will come first above any ambitions to gain time.

“It's not Strade Bianche, to be honest, it’s just a ‘not nice’ stage,” said Pogačar, the winner of this year’s white road Classic. “We need to be together as a team going to the gravel sectors with great focus and just arrive at the finish line.”

That sentiment was echoed by Mikkel Bjerg when GCN raised the possibility of a Pogačar attack during the three sectors of gravel.

“I think it is not the main objective,” he said. “I think it is more to stay safe and then over the next days, I think you can take a lot of time on your GC rivals so maybe he needs to stay calm and just follow the wheels.”

History suggests that the breakaway will win

If the GC contenders decide to race stage 6 aggressively, then one of the big favourites will more than likely win. However, if we are to take their words at face value over the past couple of days, it is unlikely that we will see any of the big teams decide to drop the hammer over the gravel. This leaves an iconic stage win up for grabs for the rest of the peloton.

To assess who might claim the honours, we need to take a good look at the parcours and how that might affect the racing.

© RCS

The parcours of stage 6 of the Giro d'Italia

Beginning just outside Pisa, stage 6 will reach the first sector of gravel after 130km. The 4.4km-long sector in Vidritta is the longest of the day, but the second sector will quickly follow it after just a few hundred metres on asphalt. The second sector in Bagnaia is perhaps the trickiest of the lot, averaging 4.1% for 3.8km and reaching a maximum gradient of 15% at its steepest.

Finally, some 21.8km later the race will reach the third and final sector of gravel, which will head along the ridgeway from Pievina for 2.4km. Once off the white roads, the riders will have 15.5km to ride to the finish, which is preceded by the aforementioned climb to Serre di Rapolano which tops out with 4km to the line.

The difficulty of the course has Jayco AlUla’s director of high performance and racing, Matt White, questioning who might close down a breakaway, a subject at the forefront of many minds following the stage 5 victory of Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis).

“It’s a tricky stage because I think it is just maybe a little bit out of reach for the pure sprinters which means, who is going to chase? I am sure Pog could be greedy, but I am sure it is not a stage that they’ve earmarked to go after, a day before the TT,” analysed White, who visited the course with Luke Plapp in March.

“If the right combination goes early - there’s a lot of flat early - then it could be one of those where the break sticks as well. It’s a GC day because people don’t want to lose time but then it could be a good opportunity for people willing to take risks and go in the break as well.”

Whilst White believes his sprinter Caleb Ewan has a ‘borderline’ opportunity to be in the mix for the stage win, Bahrain Victorious’ fast man Bauhaus ruled himself out of contention to GCN.

“At the end, I don’t think a sprint for me at least is possible,” Bauhaus said, tipping the day’s breakaway to contest the stage honours.

“We have seen over the past few years with special stages like on the cobbles, that the break has gone to the finish a lot of times. You are racing hard behind to position your GC guy in the front, then you stop racing so the breakaway benefits from a constant pace.”

Bauhaus’ reference to the previous special stages is an interesting one. He is right that more often than not, when cobblestones and gravel have been used in Grand Tours, their inclusion has tended to benefit the day’s break.

Three years ago at the Giro d’Italia, Mauro Schmid won from the front group in an epic stage over the white roads that saw Egan Bernal stamp home his ambitions on the maglia rosa and Remco Evenepoel’s GC bid begin to unravel. Similarly, the Paris-Roubaix stage of the Tour de France in 2022 produced an unlikely breakaway winner in Simon Clarke, as Pogačar took it to his rivals over the cobbles.

The most likely scenario on Thursday is that the GC contenders engage in a stop-start affair that might produce time gaps by the finish in Rapolano Terme, but should be tempered enough to allow a strong breakaway to reach the line first.

As for who might follow a possible attack from race leader Pogačar, the in-form Thomas struck an ominous tone when asked by GCN if he might be the rider to use the late kicker to go on the move.

“Potentially, yeah,” he answered with confidence.

All will be revealed in less than 24 hours, as the Giro d’Italia enters three back-to-back stages destined to play a big outcome in the race result in Rome.

For everything you need to know about the 2024 Giro d'Italia, from the history of the race to this year's route and start list, be sure to check out our dedicated race hub.