Can Magnier complete the sprint hat trick? Giro d'Italia stage 6 preview

After the craziness of stage 5, stage 6 looks to be the most straightforward, but the finale is anything but straightforward with many twists, corners and a 4% gradient on cobbles over the final kilometre it should be one for the sprinters but the difficulty of the finale means some of the less powerful sprinters who are better at positioning and climbing than the Milans, Magniers and Groenewegens of the world will have this stage circled as a great chance for them.


The first action of the day is almost certainly not going to come until the Red Bull kilometre with just under 30km to go if the break is brought back, expect GC rivals to sprint for the 6,4 and 2 bonus seconds on offer for first, second, and third and after that it is a fairly straighforward run into Naples on wide open roads up until the final km so positioning coming off these wider roads and into Naples is likely to prove critical in this stage. 

The route turns off the main roads with roughly 750m to go, so at this point, the lead out will be in full swing, making the tight twisty final corners likely to see carnage and potentially another heavy crash like stage 1. If everyone gets through the first tight corner, the tight left-hander with roughly 400m to go is the key pinch point. If a rider isnt through this corner in the top 5-8 positions, they stand no chance of winning, then the final 40m are at a 4% gradient on cobblestones, so it will be important to not start the sprint too early or the gradient and cobbles may sap the energy in the legs, leading to someone coming round the sprinter who goes first.

This is a very hard one to call. It should be a sprint; it seems improbable that a breakaway is allowed any advantage early on, given the limited sprint opportunities over the next week as the Giro heads to the mountains, so it should be a straight shootout between the big three sprinters in Milan, Groenewegen and double stage winner already Magnier and based on form the favourite is Magnier but the pure power of Milan on the cobbles means im predciting Jonathan Milan will win stage 6 into Naples.

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