On the eve of the Giro d'Italia's first summit finish at Roccaraso, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) gnomically told reporters that the stage "could tell us something or it could tell us nothing." The Sicilian certainly looked intent on delivering a message of his own when he bounded forcefully from the pink jersey group with a little over three kilometres remaining, but it was promptly returned to sender.
Nibali was attempting to bridge across to his teammate Jakob Fuglsang, who had attacked earlier on the climb, but his effort faded in the headwind. Yet shortly afterwards, however, maglia rosa Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) succeeded where Nibali had failed, gliding across to Fuglsang in the company of danger man Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) and Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale).
In the closing kilometre, Nibali paid further for his effort, dropping towards the rear of the chasing group, and then losing contact when it fragmented within sight of the line. He came home in 17th place on the stage, conceding 21 seconds to Dumoulin and 7 to Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), and now drops to 9th on general classification, some 47 seconds off the lead.
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"I think our tactics were wrong, apart from the first part with Fuglsang, because that was what we wanted to do. I maybe put too much trust in the words I was getting over the radio and I made a move at the wrong time," Nibali told the reporters who huddled around the steps of the Astana bus after the finish.
"Today's tactics changed during the stage. I was going to wait for the finale because we knew this wasn't a climb that suits me very well. But then they told me that if I was good, I should have a go. I had a go, but really I should have sat on and waited."
Indeed, fifteen minutes earlier, after a worn Nibali had climbed wordlessly aboard the bus, directeur sportif Giuseppe Martinelli had already issued a mea culpa of sorts, acknowledging that it had been an error to attack alone on a headwind section.
- Nibali: Roccaraso could tell us something and it could tell us nothing
- Giro d’Italia stage 6: Finish line quotes
- Giro d’Italia stage 6 highlights - Video
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