Belgium’s Tim Wellens enjoyed a red letter day on the Giro d’Italia on Thursday with his maiden Grand Tour stage win as Tom Dumoulin held onto the leader’s maglia rosa.
The 25-year-old Wellens of Lotto-Soudal broke early and powered up the final 18km climb to Roccaraso, Italy, to come home alone after the 157km sixth stage.
On this year’s Giro’s first gentle taste of mountain air Dumoulin held off the challengers for his leader’s jersey, finishing fourth.
Photo: EPA
Looking in good shape the Dutch rider took a fistful of seconds off some of the main contenders for the general classification such as Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali of Astana, as well as Spanish duo Mikel Landa of Team Sky and Alejandro Valverde of Movistar.
“My attack was not planned, but I saw Nibali going so I went too,” the Giant-Alpecon team leader said.
“I really surprised myself. I was stronger than I expected. I didn’t think I’d be in that shape for climbing. It was not a high mountain, but it was still a proper climb,” the Dutchman said.
Photo: AP
Astana’s Jakob Fuglsang got closest to Wellens, the Danish rider reaching the race’s first summit finish in second place, 1 minute, 19 seconds behind, with Russian Ilnur Zakarin of Team Katusha on his rear wheel in third.
In the overall standings Dumoulin now leads Fuglsang by 26 seconds, with Valverde 41 seconds away and Nibali 47 second back.
Wellens made his stage-winning move 15km out when he slipped free from his companions in the breakaway, first Eugert Zhupa and Alessandro Bisolti, then Laurent Didier and Pim Ligthart.
“I have Pim Ligthart to thank,” Wellens said. “It was his idea to go away together at that point in the race. Then we bridged the gap to the leaders. I’m enormously happy with this victory. It’s a little bit of a surprise.”
One of the rising stars of Belgian cycling, Wellens was giving himself the perfect present to mark his birthday on Tuesday.
Up to this point he had come in second twice in stages on his first Giro in 2014, won last year’s Grand Prix de Montreal and claimed the closing stage in this year’s Paris-Nice.
He celebrated his career high by picking up his bike and waving it over his head.
Yesterday’s seventh stage was a 211km ride from Sulmona to Foligno, Italy, favoring the sprinters, despite a second-category climb.
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