Stage 6

The road

At the start

Calabria, and a day for the fast men

The first stage on the mainland: 192 kilometres up the Calabrian coast from Palmi to Scalea, with one fourth-category climb inside the opening hour and nothing else at all. Juan Pedro López keeps pink, 39 seconds up on Lennard Kämna. Arnaud Démare took Messina and the ciclamino jersey with it, after Alpecin ambushed the sprinters on the Portella Mandrazzi and left Mark Cavendish two and a half minutes adrift.

How it was won

1. 1152 km to go

   Rosa alone, an Androni raid behind

   Diego Rosa takes the points at Vibo Valentia, which promptly provokes Tagliani, Ravanelli and Sepùlveda to attack for the sprint competition. Fourteen kilometres later the trio drift back, leaving Rosa to slog on alone with 140km still to run.

2. 229 km to go

   The long day ends for Rosa

   After five deathly quiet hours the Belgian-led peloton sweeps up the 33-year-old with 28 kilometres left, comfortably ahead of schedule and about half an hour down on the slowest time projection — a fair measure of the afternoon.

3. 3At the line

   Démare by millimetres in Scalea

   Groupama-FDJ retake the front in the final kilometre and Guarnieri delivers Démare, who comes from behind to beat Ewan in a photo finish. Cavendish, who launched just before the pair hit the wind, takes third. Alpecin, curiously, do not contest at all.

The result