Stage 6

The road

At the start

Three climbs, and a day for Anquetil

Nothing moved yesterday: Nibali leads Basso by 13 seconds, Agnoli by 20 and Vinokourov by 33. Today leaves the plain for the first time, 172 kilometres from Fidenza to the marble coast at Marina di Carrara, over the Passo del Brattello, the Spolverina and the short climb at Bedizzano eleven kilometres out. It honours Anquetil, who won a time trial in Carrara fifty years ago.

How it was won

1. 1127 km to go

   Two men, 127 kilometres

   Matthew Lloyd and Rubens Bertogliati ride away after forty-five kilometres and settle into a two-man time trial. Nobody in the bunch is worried: the better placed of them is eleven minutes down.

2. 294 km to go

   Four minutes over the Brattello

   Lloyd crests the Passo del Brattello first with more than four minutes on a Liquigas-led peloton. He will take all three categorised summits today.

3. 311 km to go

   Lloyd drops Bertogliati

   On the marble-dusted climb to Bedizzano, eleven kilometres out, Lloyd senses the Swiss faltering and attacks at the last KOM line. He crosses it alone and dives into the narrow descent with the stage in his hands.

4. 4At the line

   Lloyd's first Grand Tour win

   Marina di Carrara gives Lloyd time to sit up and take it in: 1:06 over Bertogliati, 1:15 over Danilo Hondo and the bunch. A day dedicated to Anquetil, won by a two-man time trial.

The result