cycling: Vuelta a España stage #6: Marczynski wins in Sagunt - Van Garderen crashes twice

Cycling: Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto Soudal) won the sixth stage of the Vuelta a España in a three-man sprint ahead of Pawel Poljanski (Bora-hansgrohe) and Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors). All three had broken away from a large breakaway group and saved a narrow lead to the finish. Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) suffered the most today. The American fell twice.

A large group leaves

Today's sixth stage of the Vuelta a España took the riders over 204,4 kilometers from Vila-real to Sagunto. Even today, the profile had to be described as wavy. Four mountains of the third category had to be completed before finally climbing a mountain of the fourth category. However, it was still around 36 kilometers from the top of the last climb to the finish. Best chances for outliers. That's what some professionals thought too. Because today's group included no fewer than 27 men. This huge group naturally broke up on the last climb. Three drivers were able to pull away: Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors), Pawel Poljanski (Bora-hansgrohe) and Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto Soudal).

Trek-Segafredo & Alberto Contador pick the field apart

In the peloton, too, the last climb of the day was completed at a decent pace. Alberto Contador's Trek-Segafredo team had a lot planned for today, because the peloton was literally blown up. Some well-known professionals got into big trouble. Finally, Contador also used his teammate Pantano as a relay station and then attacked himself. Only a visibly suffering Chris Froome (Sky) was able to stay close to the Spaniard. On the descent, things rolled up again. A few of the top guys seemed to be missing though, including Tejay van Garderen (BMC), David de la Cruz (Quick-Step Floors) and Simon Yates (Orica-Scott). After all, Contador's attack kept the possibility of winning the stage open. With around 25 kilometers to go, the top trio was only around half a minute ahead.

The trio prevails – Van Garderen is unlucky

Although the group of favorites was about to collect the leading trio, the three fugitives fought back bravely. Mas, Poljanski and Marczynski harmonized well, while the pace in the group behind them dropped slightly. The Sunweb and Trek-Segafredo teams mostly took care of the tracking work. But it should be enough for the three hard-fighting escapees, even if Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and Jan Polanc (UAE) came close with an attack. In the sprint for the day's win, Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto Soudal) proved to be the fastest ahead of Pawel Poljanski (Bora-hansgrohe) and Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors). Tejay Van Garderen in particular had a lot of bad luck today. The American fell twice and had a pitch-black day. After all, he lost only 17 seconds to the group around Chris Froome.

Vuelta a España stage #6 daily classification

Vuelta a España stage #6 general classification