The penultimate stage of Tirreno – Adriatico started and finished today in Porto Sant'Elpidio. The challenging classic-style course covering 209 kilometers required the riders to climb 3,100 meters in total. Peter Sagan (Cannondale) managed to win the stage in a three-man sprint. He finished ahead of Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha). Best rider of Team NetApp – Endura was Jose Mendes in 27th place that moved him up in the overall standings. He is now in 23rd place with a deficit of 9:27 minutes behind the new leader, Nibali.

The early phase of the race was marked by a lot of attacks. It took about 25 kilometers before the leading team, Sky, allowed a group of 16 riders to take off. Paul Voss was also a part of that group, which went on to set the tone of the race for the next 140 kilometers. That bit of good news for Team NetApp – Endura was clouded by the fact that Damiano Cunego (Lampre – Merida) was also in the breakaway group. Cunego was directly behind Cesare Benedetti in the mountain classification. He won two mountain classifications today, thereby claiming the climber's jersey away from Benedetti.

The lead group broke up with the second crossing of Sant’Elpidio a Mare, a mountain with an incline of as much as 27%. Voss fell back into a large chase group, which also included Mendes, Barta and Huzarski. Many small groups formed on the third crossing of the mountain, with about 20 kilometers to go to the finish, and it was from those groups that the final decision of the day emerged.

“Today’s stage was very difficult, but we did the best we could. One of our strongest riders, Paul Voss, was a part of the group. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to properly feed himself. Of course, with this bad weather, a rider’s strength eventually gets used up. Before the final climb we were still very well represented with Jose, Jan and Bartosz, but then the field broke up. We’re very satisfied with how the boys rode today,” said Enrico Poitschke following the race.

“Of course we wanted to defend the KOM jersey. But we were also aware of the fact that it would be difficult if a rider of Cunego’s caliber was riding at 100% for the jersey,” Poitschke added.

The final stage, a short 9.2-kilometer time trial, will be held tomorrow. The course in San Benedetto del Tronto is completely flat and does not include any technical difficulties. 

Website Tirreno-Adriatico

1.     Stage: San Vincenzo – Donoratico 16,9km – TTT
2.     Stage: San Vincenzo – Indicatore 232km
3.     Stage: Indicatore – Narni Scalo 190km
4.     Stage: Narni – Prati di Tivo 173km
5.     Stage: Ortona – Chieti 230km
6.     Stage: Porto Sant’Elpidio – Porto Sant’Elpidio 209km
7.     Stage: San Benedetto del Tronto – San Benedetto del Tronto 9,2 – ITT