BMC Racing Team’s Greg van Avermaet outsprinted world champion Peter Sagan on his way to a stage six triumph and the overall lead of the Tirreno-Adriatico on the penultimate day of racing in Cepagatti, Italy, on Monday.
A day after the cancelation of stage five due to the threat of snow at the summit finish of Monte San Vicino, the race resumed in earnest for 210km of racing from Castelraimondo, Italy.
Van Avermaet began the day nine seconds behind Etixx-QuickStep’s race leader Zdenek Stybar alongside teammates Damiano Caruso of Italy and Tejay van Garderen of the US.
Photo: EPA
The Belgian was among a small group of leaders being pursued by a frantic peloton in the closing kilometers and after seeing Sagan make his move in the final few hundred meters of a slightly uphill drag, Van Avermaet followed his rival’s wheel before coming around him in the final meters to win by half a bike length at the line.
Tinkoff’s Sagan, one of several riders racing at the Tirreno with one eye on next week’s Milano-Sanremo one-day classic, finished second, with former world champion Michal Kwiatkowski of Etixx-QuickStep in third.
It is the second time Van Avermaet has beaten Sagan this season after pushing him into second at the Het Nieuwsblad semi-classic and it also underlines his credentials for next week’s La Primavera — the first major spring classic of the season.
Van Avermaet led Stybar by seven seconds in the general classification and Sagan by eight ahead of yesterday’s seventh and final stage — a 10.1km time trial around San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy.
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