No longer a man for the big bunch sprints, Daniele Bennati had marked out today's hilly sixth stage of the Tour de Suisse as an opportunity to go for a result. The Italian got agonizingly close to the win but was beaten into second by Matteo Trentin.
The 184 kilometer long sixth stage of Tour de Suisse from Büren to Delémonte was dominated by a breakaway consisting of Vladimir Isaichev (Katusha Team), Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge), Jacopo Guarnieri (Astana), and Jacobus Venter (MTN-Qhubeka).
The sprinter teams wouldn’t miss another opportunity of bringing home yet another stage win and the front quartet was caught with more than 35 kilometers to go. Sky picked up the pace entering the final two slopes of the stage to put the sprinters and Tony Martin (Omega-Pharma Quick Step) under pressure. Near the top of the penultimate climb, Warren Barguil (Giant-Shimano) created a bit of daylight between himself and the dissolving peloton led by Sky but Barguil was swept up thundering towards the foot of the final climb.
Going into the final climb, the IAM Cycling Team took control of the pace but it was Peter Sagan (Cannondale) who set the field on fire by launching an attack leading the group over the summit. And the powerful Cannondale rider worked up a lead on the following descent but was brought back with 3 kilometers to go.
In the bunch sprint, Tinkoff-Saxo’s Daniele Bennati was in a perfect position after an unbelievable lead-out by Tony Martin but the strong Italian couldn’t pass Matteo Trentin (Omega-Pharma Quick Step) who took the stage win.
"That was so close. Martin was pulling his teammate onwards, created a small gap in the group of 60 riders and catapulted Trentin to the finish line. But Daniele Bennati did a heartfelt effort and demonstrated splendid condition and even though, it's not a win it's still a decent result. Now, we're looking forward to tomorrow's time trial where it's all about keeping our heads down and going full gas. I think it's going to be difficult to push Martin off the podium but we can certainly improve our position before the mountains this weekend," said a confident DS, Fabrizio Guidi.
Tony Martin retains the overall lead.
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