Joao Almeida and Tao Geoghegan Hart tried to hurt Primoz Roglic on the last steep climb Stage 6 Tirreno-Adriatico but he stayed with them and then won the sprint to the finish line for the third day in a row to secure the overall win and force them into the podium.
Roglic received another ten-second bonus for his Osimo win, putting him ahead of Almeida by 18 seconds. Geoghegan Hart finished second on the stage and also overtook Lennard Kamna (Bora-Hansgrohe) to move up to third in 23 seconds.
Sunday’s San Benedetto del Tronto final should be a day of control and a sprint finish, even if Geoghegan Hart refused to consider his place on the podium safe.
“Another day ahead. I’m not going to say anything until the job is done,” said the Londoner. Cycling news.
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Geoghegan Hart first rode out of the finish zone to recover and possibly vent his frustration after Roglic lost again.
The Ineos rider has finished fifth, third and second over the past three days as Roglic has won every uphill sprint thanks to a combination of power, speed and cunning.
“I’m stuck in barriers. It almost helped because I didn’t want to go too early like yesterday and I ran into them, but Roglic was there again,” he said disappointedly.
“The stage was a bit like a difficult World Championship track, so I got behind the wheel of Michal Kwiatkowski for the 150km. I felt comfortable on the final climb and even retreated a bit, knowing that I could close the gap to the finish line. just lost to Roglic again.”
Almeida finished third in Osimo’s sprint after trying to break Roglic with a long dash on the final steep climb to the hilltop village. His performance propelled him to second place overall.
“Primoz Roglic just never dies, he is the strongest rider in the peloton after Tadej Pogacar,” said Almeida. Cycling newswith respect to your teammate.
“I am not afraid of him or anyone, so I did my race and got my result. I attacked and I think I did some damage to the other guys. I didn’t win the stage, but it worked out pretty well for the GC.
“I’m only five seconds ahead of Tao Geoghegan Hart and there’s an intermediate sprint, but not five seconds. If we are careful, we can keep second place overall.”
Almeida will once again lead the UAE team for the Giro d’Italia. He wanted to show he was ready for May as the Corsa Rosa starts in this part of Italy in just two months.
“I wanted to win, but second place in Tirreno is also a good result,” he said. “I didn’t have a great year in 2022 due to Covid during the Giro and other things so I want to show myself and the team that I am back to my best and can be there to win races.
“The Giro is the main goal, but I think I’m on schedule, keeping my feet on the ground and working hard.”
Source: sports.yahoo.com
