Australian Jensen Plowright laughed off his own “Steven Bradbury moment” as he avoided a late crash to claim fourth on stage six of the Giro d’Italia.
The 25-year-old skipped past the late carnage on the Napoli cobbles to sprint to his best finishing position in a grand tour stage.
Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana) claimed victory ahead of Jasper Stuyven (Soudal Quick-Step), with Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) just pipping Plowright to third.
All the major favourites, despite being caught behind the crash, lost no time on general classification.
“Yeah, I had a bit of a Steven Bradbury moment,” Plowright told Cycling Pro Net.
“I was right at the back and managed to just finesse my way around the corner.
“Fourth is nice.”
Jasper Stuyven (left) just couldn’t get past Italian stage winner Davide Ballerini. (Getty Images: Dario Belingheri)
Plowright (Alpecin-Premier Tech) came into the Giro as part of Kaden Groves’s sprint train, but since his fellow Aussie’s withdrawal, he has been allowed to seek his own opportunities.
The opportunity was always likely to arise on the flat 142-kilometre ride from Paestum to Napoli, a stage always destined to end in a sprint.
Such was the pre-determined nature of the stage ending in a sprint, it took a while for Edward Planckaert and Luca Vergallito (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to reluctantly build a breakaway, later being joined by Martin Marcellusi, Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group Bardiani-CSF Faizanè) and Mattia Bais (Polti VisitMalta).
They were reeled in more than 30km before the finish by a relaxed peloton.
However, that was not to last, with rain falling in Napoli to make the technical closing kilometres on the cobbles of the Piazza del Plebiscito an anxiety-filled battle for the sprinters.
“I don’t know why we have to find these complicated finishes, why can’t we go just straight,” Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) said.
“With two drops of water you get a huge mess. I’m disappointed as I was in a good position.”
Jonathan Milan was not impressed with the finale. (Getty Images: Dario Belingheri)
Dylan Groenewegen, whose Unibet Rose Rockets team had done all the work to put their man in the best position possible, was more circumspect.
“It was a bit slippery and it can happen,” he said.Â
“It’s disappointing. Sometimes you have bad luck.”
There was no bad luck for race leader Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious), who safely held onto the Maglia Rosa ahead of what promises to be an explosive finale on Friday.
Riders will head into the high mountains for the first time on this year’s race, ending on the storied Apennine climb to Blockhaus, where Jai Hindley claimed a heroic stage victory in 2022.
“I think it will be the first real true test,” he told Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe’s website before the Giro got underway.Â
“There will definitely be gaps. I don’t think the race will be decided there, but we’ll get a good idea of who’s in form.”
By
