It was a long day in the saddle for the 194 cyclists who pedaled 155 miles through the mountains in northern Italy and Austria on Thursday, but Michele Scarponi is probably feeling no pain.
The Diquigiovanni cycling team member broke from the peloton with a small group early in Stage 6 and survived in the front all the way to Mayrhofen.
All the pain was felt by his breakaway companion Vasili Kiryenka, who suffered a mechanical near the finish then cramped up as he tried to catch Scarponi.
Italy's Danilo Di Luca retained the pink jersey as he finished in a chase group, and Americans Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner retained their 4th and 8th rank in the overall standings.
Lance Armstrong continued to drop back in his first-ever Giro, however, as he lost 40 seconds to race leader Di Luca. He now sits at 25th place, 4:13 behind the leader. Armstrong commented at his Twitter account about the course that organizers chose for Stage 6:
“Uh…wow. That was the craziest last 30k I've ever seen. Long, fast decent at 80k (50pmh) plus then a tight circuit. … Not sure that's necessary really. Tomorrow is the same kind of finish. It's bike racing, not moto gp.. At one point today we reached 110kph. That's almost 70 mph. CRAZY!”
Leipheimer has chance
It's only the first week of the Giro, but it might be time to wonder if Di Luca can hang onto the lead all the way to the finish in Rome in 2 1/2 weeks. There are plenty of rivals sitting within easy striking distance.
Leipheimer, Denis Menchov and Ivan Basso are in 4th, 5th and 6th places, with last year's Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre sitting in 7th. If Di Luca or his team doesn't crack, then his rivals will have to look to the individual time trials on Stage 12 or 21. Ending the Giro with a 9-mile individual time trial could prove very interesting, especially for a strong TT specialist like Leipheimer.
The Top 10
1 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes – Farnese Vini
2 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia – Highroad; 0.05
3 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia – Highroad; 0.36
4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana; 0.43
5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank; 0.50
6 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas; 1.06
7 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Cervelo Test Team; 1.16
8 Christopher Horner (USA) Astana; 1.17
9 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas; 1.27
10 David Arroyo (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne; 1.41
See more results and race reports at CyclingNews.
On Friday, the peloton races through Austria and Switzerland before returning to Italy. Check out the Universal Sports Cycling Dashboard to watch it live via video streaming.
The 152-mile Stage 7 is comparable to Thursday's stage in length, although the terrain will be different. After taking an steady climb to a mountain pass, the peloton gets a 24-mile downhill assault to the finish.
Meanwhile, Leipheimer gave a little insight into the Astana team dynamics in a short video interview at the beginning of Stage 6 at CycleTO.
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