Matteo Jorgenson tries everything, but Isaac del Toro proves too strong in Tirreno-Adriatico queen stage

Saturday was always going to be the day when everything had to happen. There were no truly monstrous mountain stages in this year’s Tirreno-Adriatico, but stage 6 still packed more than 4,000 meters of climbing. It was a constant up-and-down all the way to Camerino, with a short but savage final ascent where big differences could absolutely be made. Earlier in the day, the riders also had to tackle that same hill twice already.

But that all came later. At the start, it was war from kilometer zero. On Friday, Michael Valgren won from the early break, so the attackers sensed another opportunity. And who else but Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel went full gas straight from the start? The Dutchman, already a two-time stage winner in this race, briefly managed to get away, but he was later reeled back in.

It took a while before a group could truly get clear, but eventually a strong seven-man breakaway managed to break free. That move included Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers), Gregor Mühlberger (Decathlon CMA CGM), Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost), Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ), Timo Kielich (Visma | Lease a Bike), Walter Calzoni (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Guillermo Thomas Silva (XDS Astana).

Braz Afonso had started the day 16th overall, at 2:42 from leader Isaac del Toro, so this was not a harmless move. The peloton therefore never gave the break too much freedom in the opening phase. The gap grew to around four minutes, but on the first passage of the Camerino climb, Tudor took control and raised the pace. Julian Alaphilippe emptied himself on the front and cut the gap down significantly.

Braz Afonso and Mühlberger proved to be the best climbers in the break, but the peloton closed in quickly. An attack from Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), with 60 kilometers to go, helped force the issue even more. The Ecuadorian climber quickly built up an advantage of around a minute.

Only briefly, however, because UAE sent Jan Christen to the front on the flatter roads to drag Carapaz back before the second passage through Camerino. Less happened there than expected, and around thirty riders crested together, including Tim Rex and Wout van Aert for Visma | Lease a Bike. They were still able to do work for Jorgenson, while Isaac del Toro was left on his own until Jan Christen managed to reconnect on the descent.

In the end, it all came down to the final climb into Camerino. Van Aert attacked just before the base of that ascent and started the steepest slopes with a narrow advantage. Ben Healy (EF) quickly swept past him, while Pellizzari was the first of the GC men to open things up.

Del Toro hesitated for a moment, but then responded with Jorgenson glued to his wheel. The same thing happened on a second acceleration, and Del Toro even looked back at Jorgenson, after which Uno-X stepped in through the Johannessen brothers.

Once the Norwegian team’s leader pulled aside, Del Toro still remained seated for a moment longer. Pellizzari, meanwhile, was making a serious bid for both the stage win and the overall lead, which finally prompted the Mexican to become more active in the chase and ride back up to his good friend.

That brought everything back together inside the final 500 meters, where Jorgenson launched his move for the first time. Del Toro followed immediately and then powered past the American in the closing stretch, sealing a double blow.