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Michael Woods eighth in lumpy penultimate stage of Tirreno-Adriatico

Primož Roglič with natural hat trick of stage wins

March 11, 2023
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Michael Woods gave his best performance of the young season on Saturday’s lumpy penultimate stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. Woods was eighth over the line in Osimo behind race leader Primož Roglič, who joins Moreno Argentin and Oscar Freire as riders who have won natural hat tricks of Race of the Two Seas stage victories. Roglič seized the blue leader’s jersey on Friday with a win and led Lennard Kämna by four seconds, and now he leads João Almeida by 18 seconds with one stage remaining. Woods moved into the top 20 on GC.

Roglic nips Geoghegan Hart and Mas in Osimo.

The Course

The profile looked like a piranha’s jawline. At the end of three 35-km circuits around Osimo, the final 5 km were 4 percent.

With 50 km to ride, there was still an eleven-rider breakaway containing GC danger man Santiago Buitrago (Colombia/Bahrain-Victorious) 50 seconds up the road. Jumbo-Visma was leading the chase but was having its difficulties with Wilco Kelderman crashing and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad winner Dylan van Baarle abandoning.

The first escape brought to heel, a strong quartet busted loose with 20 km to go. This time UAE-Emirates and then Ineos powered the pursuit. This foursome was also lassoed before the final climb, where Mikel Landa tried to shake loose. Woods attacked with 2.5 km remaining and yanked out a good gap, but was reeled in at the red kite.

Roglič accelerated inside a kilometre and decanted the group. Enric Mas made a bid to win but the Slovenian brought him back and drove hard to victory.

Sunday’s final stage looks to be one for the sprinters in San Benedetto del Tronto.

2023 Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 6
1) Primož Roglič (Slovenia/Jumbo-Visma) 4:49:17
2) Tao Geoghegan Hart (Great Britain/Ineos) s.t.
3) João Almeida (Portugal/UAE-Emirates) s.t.
8) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +0:09
52) Derek Gee (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +11:46

2023 Tirreno-Adriatico GC
1) Primož Roglič (Slovenia/Jumbo-Visma) 25:06:21
2) João Almeida (Portugal/UAE-Emirates) +0:18
3) Tao Geoghegan Hart (Great Britain/Ineos) +0:23
20) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +2:39
45) Derek Gee (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +20:04