Daily News Digest -

Mads Würtz Schmidt takes Tirreno-Adriatico stage 6 from the break: Daily News

Hello again, CyclingTips readers,

Tirreno-Adriatico continued on Monday with its penultimate stage, where a hard-working break managed to stay clear to contest the stage victory.

Read on for the latest from the world of cycling.

Dane Cash
News Editor

What’s news?

Würtz Schmidt wins Tirreno-Adriatico stage 6 from the break

Mads Würtz Schmidt won the sixth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico from the breakaway on Monday, outsprinting a few other escapees in Lido di Fermo.

The 169 km stage from Castelraimondo seemed like a day that could have come down to a bigger sprint, but a group of breakaway riders that got clear some 30 km into the stage had other plans. Würtz Schmidt, Jan Bakelants, Emils Liepins, Nelson Oliveira, Brent Van Moer, and Simone Velasco formed the move, and they built their advantage up to a max of around six minutes before the pack slowly started to reduce the gap. With around 60 km to go, Simon Carr crashed in some road furniture that was not clearly marked on the course, but he was fortunately able to remount and continue in the race.

The escapees had a little under four minutes’ advantage with 45 km to go as they started the first of four laps on a finishing circuit. Although the sprinters’ teams led the way in the peloton, the breakaway collaborated well to keep the gap from going down to quickly, and it eventually become clear that the win would come from the group out front. Liepins lost touch on the last lap on the finishing circuit’s main climb, leaving five riders to contest the win. In the final kick, Würtz Schmidt proved fastest, besting Van Moer and Velasco to get the first WorldTour win of his career, and Israel Start-Up Nation’s first WorldTour win of the season.

Race leader Tadej Pogacar finished safely in the peloton to retain his position atop the GC standings with one stage left to go.

Top 10, stage 6

1 WÜRTZ SCHMIDT Mads (Israel Start-Up Nation) 3:42:09
2 VAN MOER Brent (Lotto Soudal)
3 VELASCO Simone (Gazprom – RusVelo)
4 BAKELANTS Jan (Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux)
5 OLIVEIRA Nelson (Movistar Team)
6 LIEPIŅS Emils (Trek – Segafredo) 0:25
7 MERLIER Tim (Alpecin-Fenix) 1:09
8 BALLERINI Davide (Deceuninck – Quick Step)
9 VIVIANI Elia (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits)
10 KANTER Max (Team DSM)

Top 10, GC

1 POGACAR Tadej (UAE-Team Emirates) 26:24:59
2 VAN AERT Wout (Team Jumbo-Visma) 1:15
3 LANDA Mikel (Bahrain – Victorious) 3:00
4 BERNAL Egan (INEOS Grenadiers) 3:30
5 FABBRO Matteo (BORA – hansgrohe) 3:54
6 WELLENS Tim (Lotto Soudal) 4:30
7 ALMEIDA João (Deceuninck – Quick Step) 4:42
8 BARDET Romain (Team DSM) 5:03
9 NIBALI Vincenzo (Trek – Segafredo) 5:54
10 YATES Simon (Team BikeExchange) 6:58

Volta a Catalunya confirms Sagan

The Volta a Catalunya announced on Monday that Peter Sagan will race this year’s edition of the event, which will run from March 22 to 28.

The start will mark Sagan’s debut at the WorldTour stage race, and it will also preclude him from starting races in Belgium that will be running at around the same time: the Oxyclean Classic Brugge-De Panne, the E3 Saxo Bank Classic, and Gent-Wevelgem. Sagan has won at E3 once before and counts three Gent-Wevelgem titles on his career palmares.

E3 will implement new barriers and robots too

Speaking of the E3 Saxo Bank Classic, this year’s race will see the deployment new roadside barriers designed to be safer than those commonly used in road races as well as robots designed to help implement COVID-19 safety protocols.

The new barriers are made out of impact-absorbing polymers, and they do not have metal feet, which pose risks to sprinters who ride close to the edge of the road. The robots, meanwhile, will be used to count how many people are present and measure body temperature. They can also tell people to wear their masks correctly.

Movistar announces eight riders for eTeam roster

Movistar has announced eight riders selected through the Movistar Team Challenge to part of its eTeam.

Daniel Guld, Jimmy Kershaw, Vidar Mehl, Pim van Diemen, Steph Clutterbuck, Imogen Cotter, Beth Maciver, and Becky Storrie comprise the eight selected so far. The team also noted that there are “more riders to be selected from the Spanish community.” The team will race in the Premier Division of the Zwift Racing League.

In case you missed it …

  • Iain Treloar tells the tragic story of Jean-Pierre Monseré, who died while wearing the rainbow jersey.

The post Mads Würtz Schmidt takes Tirreno-Adriatico stage 6 from the break: Daily News appeared first on CyclingTips.

Back to CyclingTips

Tags