Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) ceded control of the pink jersey to UAE-Team Emirates rider Valerio Conti as Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec's Fausto Masnada took the first Grand Tour stage of his career on Stage 6 of the Giro d'Italia. Masnada proved himself to be the strongest member of the day's large breakaway, making the race-winning attack on the ascent of the Coppa Casarinelle around 20km from the line. Conti was the only member of the breakaway strong enough to hold Masnada's wheel, riding into the final with his compatriot. Masnada won the stage in a two-up sprint with Conti, who settled for the overall race lead, but this could have been an agreement decided betweent the riders ahead of the finish. It proved a day for the Italians with Masnada taking the home country's first stage and Androni's first Giro stage win since 2012. As for Conti, he is the first Italian to wear the pink of the Giro since Vincenzo Nibali won the race back in 2016. Giro d'Italia 2019 Stage 6: How it happened After the biblical rain, race neutralisation and Tom Dumoulin's abandonment of the previous day, Stage 6 was begging for order to be restored to the Giro d'Italia. Starting in Cassano, the peloton travelled 238km east to San Giovanni Rotondo on what would be the second-longest stage of the race. It would also be the first road stage too tough for the sprinters to contest thanks to its uphill finish and category 2 climb just 18km from the line. On paper, it also looked too benign to trouble the General Classification contenders meaning it had a whiff of a breakaway day before it had even got going. And so it proved to be with a strong group of 12 making the day's break. A mixture of teams and rider styles, it was certainly strong enough to reach the line ahead of the peloton and with Jumbo-Visma likely happy to concede Primoz Roglic's pink jersey, it was almost certain to happen. Within the break, Valerio Conti of UAE-Team Emirates was best placed to take the leader's jersey, provided he could finish in the lead group, while young Valentin Madouas of Groupama-FDJ was among the riders likely to fancy their chances of a win. If the certainty of the break was not already enough, an unfortunate spill for Roglic early in the day made even more of a banker. The Slovakian was fine to continue but ripped the right side of his bibshorts causing what look liked quite a sore cut. For yet another day the rain fell on the Giro peloton but much gentler than before. It caused an easy tempo in the peloton which allowed the break to establish a comfortable gap. The stage finished in sunshine. With less than 40km left to race the break still had almost five minutes to play with. The first rider in the break to blink was Androni's Masnada. On the Coppa Casarinelle climb, the Italian took off from his break compatriots bringing only Conti with him. The gap was 30 seconds before long as Masnada cranked a big gear and Conti followed. The rest of the break was not willing to chase properly and seemed to be throwing their chances of Giro stage glory away. The duo forged a healthy lead of 35 seconds which was almost brought to an abrupt end by a stray dog in the middle of the road. Luckily, both riders got past unscathed. That proved the only danger for the duo who eventually rode to the line together, Masnada taking the stage, Conti taking pink.<doc-sep>ORBETELLO, Italy (Reuters) - Fernando Gaviria of Colombia claimed a hollow victory on the Giro d’Italia after his former team mate, Italian champion Elia Viviani, was disqualified from the third stage on Monday. FILE PHOTO: Cycling - the 101st Giro d'Italia cycling race - The 229-km Stage 3 from Beersheba to Eilat, Israel - May 6, 2018 - Team Quick-Step rider Elia Viviani of Italy stands on the podium after the 3rd stage in Eilat, Israel. REUTERS/Nir Keidar “The Jury watched the video footage of the sprint and has decided to relegate Elia Viviani. The winner is Fernando Gaviria,” organisers said. Deceuninck-Quick Step rider Viviani appeared to deviate from his line of sprinting to block out Matteo Moschetti, but Team UAE’s Gaviria, who was also part of the Belgian outfit last year, said the Italian deserved to win. “Elia is always fair, it is hard to celebrate,” the Colombian told reporters. “When he moved to the left, he did it without bad intention. To me he is the clear winner of today’s stage. I feel bad for him.” Gaviria left his arms behind his back on the podium, refusing to celebrate. France’s Arnaud Demare was second and German Pascal Ackermann third. Slovenian Primoz Roglic retained the overall leader’s pink jersey at the end of a 220-km ride from Vinci that ended in chaotic fashion. NERVOUS PELOTON Crosswinds and a sharp left-hand turn in the finale made the peloton nervous and a crash with 5.5km left split the bunch in two, with British hope Tao Geoghegan Hart losing 1:28 after the Team Ineos youngster was caught on the wrong end. The 24-year-old, on his Giro debut, had been named as one of two Team Ineos leaders with 21-year-old Pavel Sivakov in the absence of Colombian Egan Bernal, who is out of the race after sustaining a broken collarbone in training. Sivakov and Geoghegan Hart shone in the Tour of the Alps last month, but team manager Dave Brailsford said last week the two young guns were on the Giro to learn. Geoghan Hart, who was seventh overall after a good opening time trial, dropped to 57th, 2:03 behind Roglic. The Slovenian was always well positioned in the bunch, being perfectly sheltered by his Jumbo-Visma team mates. “With only one rider in the breakaway, it made it a very long stage. It enabled me to enjoy the Maglia Rosa (jersey) a bit more,” he told reporters. “I wasn’t really scared of the crosswinds at the end because we are a team from Holland so we know how to deal with the wind.” Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz, fourth in last year’s Giro, lost 46 seconds after suffering a late mechanical problem. Roglic leads Briton Simon Yates by 19 seconds and twice Giro d’Italia champion Vincenzo Nibali by 23 going into Tuesday’s fourth stage, a 235-km ride from Orbetello to Frascati.<doc-sep>Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-Quick Step) says that the Giro d'Italia race jury "destroyed his ambitions" of points for the ciclamino jersey. The jury relegated the Italian champion from the win on Monday in Orbetello to 73rd place, deciding he veered too far off his line and into that of Matteo Moschetti (Trek-Segafredo). The victory instead went to Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates), who originally placed second and now wears the ciclamino jersey. >>> Fernando Gaviria says ‘in my view Viviani is the winner’ after Giro d’Italia stage three controversy "What happened? I did my sprint and I win the sprint," Viviani said. "I was the first in the flash interview says that there was contact and I'm sorry for that but there were 75 metres to go when I started my sprint. "When a sprinter decided to go, he just goes. I just found my line and probably the fastest line to the finish line. I'm disappointed because that destroyed my Giro ambition, absolutely." The jury also fined him 500CHF and a precious 50 points towards the violet jersey. In 2018, he won four stages and the points jersey when the race ended in Rome. Viviani argued such things are just part of sprinting, pointing out that in stage two he had an elbow from Rüdiger Selig (Bora-Hansgrohe). "Absolutely. He defended the position because of Pascal Ackermann. It's just a sprint," Viviani added before stage four. "They say it was a dangerous move, but I say it was not voluntary. They say it doesn't matter. It was also dangerous if you don't do the opposite, so it was dangerous. I don't deserve the [relegation] in that case. "It's not about the result of yesterday. I have other ambitions for the points jersey, they also took 50 points in penalty. At least we have two days coming, probably I [could have won] both days but for my mistake on the first day, for one and Ackermann was super-strong. And yesterday with the decision. I am with zero wins now." About three to four chances remain for sprinters like Viviani, Ackermann, Gaviria and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal). Viviani, the Italian champion, said that he will bounce back mentally from this. "The goal of the ciclamino is gone, but I want to win before going home."<doc-sep>
UAE Team Emirates’ Valerio Conti took over the leader’s pink jersey as Fausto Masnada triumphed from the breakaway and stage six of the Giro d’Italia ended with a completely new top 10 in the general classification. After an opening few days marked with frustration for many home fans, they could celebrate on Thursday as Masnada took his first Grand Tour stage win for the Italian Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec team, while compatriot Conti was close on his wheel to take the race lead from Primoz Roglic. Roglic was part of a peloton which crossed the line more than seven minutes back but though his shorts were ripped from an early crash he looked unconcerned by the loss of pink, with the peloton choosing not to chase down the break over the course of the 238km stage from Cassino to San Giovanni Rotondo. With riders from the 13-man breakaway taking over the top 10, Roglic slid down to 11th in the general classification, five minutes and 24 seconds off pink. Mitchelton-Scott’s Simon Yates, dropped to 13th, still 35 seconds behind Roglic, with Italian Vincenzo Nibali of Bahrain-Merida another four seconds back. It was a long day in the saddle and mostly flat until the category two climb of the Copa Casarinelle late in the day. The breakaway arrived at the foot of the climb together but when Masnada attacked Conti was quickly on his wheel and the pair went clear, surviving the intervention of a loose dog at the summit. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar), Ruben Plaza (Israel Cycling Academy) and Giovanni Carboni (Bardiani) set off after them but could not get within 30 seconds as the front two stayed clear. And so a day which began with more grumblings from the locals about a lack of Italian success so far – particularly after Elia Viviani was relegated from victory on stage three – ended with an Italian winning the stage for an Italian team and an Italian in pink for a team which, while now officially from the Emirates, retains an Italian heart. “Fausto Masnada is a very, very strong rider with incredible power so it was not possible to get the victory but I’m very, very happy for the pink jersey,” said the 26-year-old Conti, who is leading a stage race for the first time in his career. It’s incredible. I hope we can keep it for a long time but it will be difficult.” Dog on the road! 🐶 This little guy is playing a dangerous game! 😳#Giro #Giro102 pic.twitter.com/LCu6cKtaov — Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) May 16, 2019 While they could celebrate, Roglic’s Team Jumbo-Visma looked happy to surrender the pink jersey and spare Roglic the daily protocols that come with it, for now at least. Conti leads by one minute 41 seconds from Carboni, with AG2R La Mondiale’s Nans Peters in third, a further 28 seconds back.