Groenewegen and Magnier see chances — but Visma think stage six finish goes too far

On paper, the stage six finish of the Giro d'Italia looks spectacular — but opinions in the peloton are divided about the final kilometre over small and large cobblestones. While the sprinters are quietly seeing it as a chance to improve their odds of winning, GC teams like Visma | Lease a Bike are a good deal less enthusiastic.

Stage six runs from Paestum to Naples over 141 kilometres on Thursday. Stages finishing in Naples are always hectic and dangerous — but this time, the race organisation has made it more dramatic still.

In the final 700 metres, the riders swing sharply left, roll uphill over small cobblestones, navigate a tight U-turn, and are then left with 350 metres of larger paving stones before the finish in front of a beautiful city square.

"It's a very unusual finale — where else do you have a sprint with a corner that sharp just 350 metres from the line?" Marcel Kittel mused out loud, speaking to IDL Pro Cycling. The Unibet Rose Rockets sprint coach continued: "It's not flat either — you'll definitely feel that."

Gradients of between three and six percent will make positioning absolutely critical. "You need to accelerate well out of that corner on the cobbles. The final 50 metres are on larger stones, so it'll be hard to build much more speed there."

At the Rockets, Kittel sees that as an opportunity just as much as a challenge. "Our goal has always been to build our lead-out train in such a way that we can deliver in finishes like this too. That's our focus, and we'll be ready for it. This finish cannot be an excuse."

Kittel is optimistic, and speaks warmly of the team spirit at the Rockets. And that same spirit arguably applies to Soudal Quick-Step, who have already won two stages through Paul Magnier. How does The Wolfpack view stage six?

Sporting director Davide Bramati kept it short but punchy: "It's over cobblestones and slightly uphill, so that's different from last year. I actually think it's quite a nice finale. Staying safe will be important, and then the legs will do the talking."

The GC teams will be considerably less enthusiastic about what is always a challenging day into Naples. Confronted with the stage six finale, Visma | Lease a Bike sporting director Marc Reef was not shy about sharing his reservations. "They're really going looking for trouble," said the Dutchman.

"We've finished there three times before, I think, and we always went straight on. That was always a great sprint finish — but now we first get the small cobblestones and then we finish on large flagstones."

For Reef, it feels like a pattern. "On day one it was the same thing: we rode 8 kilometres straight, and then there was a kink in the road. We ended up on cobblestones that they'd had to treat beforehand, otherwise they would have been far too slippery. I find it strange — for me, they don't always need to do this."

"You'd get a perfectly nice sprint otherwise. But I think they want the dramatic images of a finish in a beautiful square. For me, that's not necessary. We need to get through Thursday safely, without risks. Then we'll look ahead from there."