Astana’s Fuglsang 6th overall after Giro d’Italia Stage 6
NUR-SULTAN. KAZINFORM - The last day before the first rest day at the Corsa Rosa saw Jakob Fuglsang climbing up to sixth on the general classification after taking a spot in the Top-Ten on a brutal stage at the Giro d`Italia. Once again, the Kazakh team showed an amazing teamwork, helping their leader to step up on the GC, Kazinform has learnt from the club’s press service.
Today`s 9th stage was the last one ahead of tomorrow`s well-deserved rest day. The stage wasn’t anything than an easy spin. Wasn`t the route already a tough one, made rain and fresh temperatures the stage to a brutal one.
The riders had to conquer a 208km long high mountain stage from San Salvo up to Roccaraso, with over 4.500m of climbing. The stage was predicated to see another titanic battle between the GC contenders and a total shake up on the general classification.
It took almost 80 kilometers until a group of six riders finally went up the road, opening up a gap of more than six minutes. Astana Pro Team stayed in the peloton, working for their leader Jakob Fuglsang, especially Fabio Felline did an excellent job in protecting his leader over the day.
While the breakaway fell apart on the way up to the final climb, Jakob Fuglsang stayed in the first chasing group among the GC contenders. Like yesterday, the breakaway was able to hold their advantage until the finale, and battled out the stage win. Jakob Fuglsang arrived a minute after the winner in 9th place and was able to climb up to sixth on the overall ranking. He now ranks 1:01 behind the Maglia Rosa.
«A very long day with a really fast start and from there on we went relative easily, Deceuninck tried to take over control from the second last climb on and Trek tried to put the pressure on. But my team made a really good job, protected me the whole day, stayed around me and made sure that we didn’t miss any moves. On the final climb it was my part, but also Fabio stayed a long time with me and worked perfectly for me. Today it was really important to stay warm and I tried it and then I knew, I had to wait for the final 3km. But it turned out that there was a lot of headwind on the last kilometers, so I didn’t really see any opportunity to try anything before the last few hundred metres. I was with all GC contenders and so I gave it my everything and made some time on the overall ranking. All in all, it was a good day for me and the team and I am happy with my results so far. It is a good way to go into the rest day like this, gaining some time on the GC and I think I showed again that I am on the climbs there, where I have to be, where I want to be. It is a good feeling. I hope that we will have some sunny days coming up,» Jakob Fuglsang said.
Tomorrow the peloton can enjoy a well-deserved rest day before heading back to stage 10 on Tuesday. A 177km almost flat course from Lanciano to Tortoreto will await the riders.