After every week within the Tirreno-Adriatico’s greatest younger rider white jersey, Juan Ayuso is predicted to ascend the overall classification and take the chief’s blue jersey from Filippo Ganna on stage 6 mountain end.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider completed second to Ganna within the opening 11.5k time trial in Lido di Camaiore and has been ready for the Italian to crack ever since.
The heavy rain on levels 3 and 4 has turned Tirreno-Adriatico right into a battle of survival however now stage 6 from Cartoceto to Frontignano will reveal who the general contenders actually are, and if Ayuso can stay as much as the billing of favorite for closing victory.
Though the stage is brief in comparison with most days of this 12 months’s robust Tirreno-Adriatico route, the 163km of racing will likely be one other day within the Apennine foothills.
There are two climbs within the closing 100km after which the 7.7km climb to the Frontignano end at 1327 metres. The common gradient of seven.8% is deceiving, as the ultimate two kilometres close to the hilltop are at solely 6.4% however the gradient from 5.8km to 11.7km to go is a tougher 8.3%.
22-year-old Ayuso is just 22 seconds down on Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) within the GC. He leads Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) by seven seconds, and Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) by 12 seconds.
Laurens De Plus (Ineos Grenadiers), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) and Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) are not less than 30 second down on Ayuso and so should assault early on the ultimate climb if they need any probability of climbing the GC.
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Ayuso is fatigued after the robust days within the rain however is aware of victory is inside grasp. He has a powerful UAE Team Emirates-XRG group that controls the race and the tempo on the ultimate climb till the race to the end begins.
“Tomorrow was initially the race ‘D-Day’, the one we would been ready for all week. But with so many days of dangerous climate which have been a lot more durable than anticipated, it has been a case of ‘get via as greatest we are able to’. We’ve really had loads of very onerous days already,” Ayuso defined.
“Tomorrow is the day the place we are able to make a distinction on GC and hopefully I can finish it as race chief. We’ll need to drop Ganna, and seeing how he is going, we’ll need to make it actually onerous for that to occur.”
Aysuo opted to journey a managed closing climb on stage 5, going with the late assaults excessive of the Monterolo climb.
“The goal was to get via it,” he stated. “It was a really explosive finale and we did not need the group to bust aside after which for issues to get uncontrolled.
“We’re all completed within the similar time, so we received via it. Now let’s have a look at what’s taking place tomorrow.”