German champion André Greipel finished off the teamwork of Lotto Soudal in the sixth Giro stage. The stage took the riders from Montecatini Terme to Castiglione della Pescaia over a distance of 183 kilometres, an ideal stage for a bunch sprint.

The break of the day consisted of five riders. The sprint teams kept the gap stable, around five minutes. Lotto Soudal was riding very attentively in the front part of the peloton. Sander Armée was the first of the team to lead the chase. With fourteen kilometres to go the escapees were reeled in. Because of the crosswind there was a chance of echelons, but eventually that didn’t happen. When entering the last three kilometres Lotto Soudal took control, Lars Bak took the first position of the bunch.

As planned Adam Hansen and Greg Henderson were the last men in front of André Greipel. Hendy did the perfect lead-out and Greipel finished it off. He beat Matteo Pelucchi and Sacha Modolo. This was the third stage win for the Gorilla in his third Giro. Greipel now leads the points classification.

“I’m really happy and relieved after this victory. And of course I’m immensely proud of the team, the guys did such an amazing job today. I’m really thankful. We took our responsibility today. We wanted to show ourselves from start to finish, so the others would know we were there. We didn’t make any mistakes,” André Greipel said.

“Sander Armée was the first rider who took control in the chase to keep the escapees close and to reel them in later. Grand Tour debutants Stig Broeckx and Louis Vervaeke also did their part of the job. With Lars Bak, Adam Hansen and Greg Henderson I had three riders in front of me when entering the last three kilometres. It all ran according to plan.

"It is what we were planning this morning in the bus: to stay in the front on the twisting route from 2km out until the finish line. It worked the way we said. It wasn't easy to keep position but the whole team was focused on keeping us at the front. To do the last 2km with 4 guys is impressive. Adam Hansen pulled from 1.2km to 600m, and Greg Henderson took over and took a really long pull to finish it off. The team did a really good job to keep me out of trouble and make a perfect lead out.

"I would just say one thing: everyone should respect the guy next to him. I didn't see really what happened [in the crash]. Sometimes crashes are part of our job, our sport, and I just hope everyone can start again tomorrow. I wish Daniele Colli all the best, and a speedy recovery."

The win came after his third place in stage 2

"The finish line came too late," he said about that sprint. Or, if you prefer, I started my sprint too early. It was slightly up hill, 2%, so I just mistimed it a bit. Having said that, it's not just about me. Viviani and Hofland are not slow, and I got beaten by great sprinters. I think it's important to have good sprinters here, and to see good sprints.

“The beginning of this Giro is not at all like the other Grand Tours that I have done before, it was really tough the third and fourth day. I now have the points jersey. We’ll see what happens the next stages and how long I’ll keep it. It’s an honour to ride in it tomorrow, but it all depends on how the race develops. But now we have a first victory, we’ll definitely aim for a second one."