Cycling. 78 riders get on their bikes for three and quarter hours, and at the end, a Quick-Step rider wins. The prodigious Enric Mas become the 11th different Quick-Step rider to win a race on the World Tour this season, producing a fine final climb up the Usartza to hold off the Movistar’s charging Mikel Landa, who ended up walking away empty-handed as he could not overturn the large buffer that overall winner Primoz Roglic had.
Mas also finished seventh overall, a reward for a solid week’s work which involved attempts to keep two-time stage winner and team-mate Julian Alaphilippe In the hunt for the yellow jersey which ended on Friday’s stage to Eibar.
The Lotto-Jumbo rider had been immovable from the leading group all day and by the time that an eventual fifth Nairo Quintana went to act as a foil for Landa, his advantage, untouched at 1:57, was too big for him to cede unless he suffered a mechanical or physical deficit, and neither of those mishaps ever looked like occurring. In the end, he finished 1:09 clear of the Basque rider.
The Slovenian’s victory, built on more than just his fine time trial win through the streets of Losada, was thoroughly deserved, having the initiative to escape from the leading climbers over the first finish and then the strength to do so once again on the second day, and he mastered his effort through the day with poise and balance, shorn of a Lotto-Jumbo team that had been dropped early.
Bahrain-Merdia’s Ion Izagirre kept up his good form this season to take third on the podium, having jumped right after Landa dropped Roglic to take 59 seconds on the yellow jersey and also third on the stage, and there was then a big gap to the impressive German Emmanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), with Nairo Quintana just three seconds behind after a week of fascinating tactical cooperation with Landa ahead of this year’s grand tours.
Final Standings after Stage 6
- Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) 20:53:47
- Mikel Landa (Movistar) 00:01:09
- Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) 00:01:42
- Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) 00:03:14
- Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) 00:03:17
- Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) 00:03:29
- Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) 00:03:50
- Pello Bilbao (Astana Pro Team) 00:04:14
- David De La Cruz (Team Sky) 00:04:15
- Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) 00:05:30
Stage 6 Results
- Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) 03:17:34
- Mikel Landa (Movistar) 00:00:12
- Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) 00:00:27
- Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing Team)
- Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) 00:00:30
- Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) 00:00:45
- Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) 00:00:47
- Gregor Mühlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) 00:00:54
- Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo)
- Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe)
First professional victory!! THANKS @quickstepteam!
