Woods moves up in Giro d’Italia GC for fourth consecutive stage

Michael “Rusty” Woods moved up one spot in the Giro d’Italia GC to 12th on Saturday, the same degree of advancement he made on Thursday and Friday. Over the past four stages, Woods has made his way from 18th. Twenty-eight seconds separate him from the top-10 after eight stages.

Leader of the Giro d’Italia’s young rider competition, Movistar’s Richard Carapaz become the first Ecuadorian to win a Grand Tour stage on Saturday, triumphing on Saturday’s wet summit finish. Simon Yates still held pink. Besides Carapaz jumping up into the top-10, the only significant GC movement was Thibaut Pinot leapfrogging Domenico Pozzovivo into fourth.

?? Richard! #Giro101 pic.twitter.com/YzO3C7DuFO

— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 12, 2018

The Course

The Giro headed north into Campania. The second summit finish of the 101st Giro was a Cat. 2, but it would come after 209-km and plenty of unclassified climbing in the 33-km before it kickedup. The ascent of Cat. 2 Montevergine di Mercogliano is a steady 17.1-km of 5 percent, with 18 hairpin turns its main trickery.

Another summit finish in #Giro101, the second-category climb of Montevergine di Mercogliano. 17.1km in length, Mercogliano made its Giro d'Italia debut in 1962, when Belgium's Armand Desmet won at the top. pic.twitter.com/BSuu0GCDbv

— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) May 12, 2018

The Breakaway

Saturday’s fugitives took a while to establish themselves, and though it looked like the group could be a big one, when the dust settled it turned out to be a septet. Its maximum gap was 6:10.

Canada’s Svein Tuft, in his final Giro, was at the front of the peloton, working for race leader Yates. The breakaway started the final 50-km with a 5:00 gap. Ten kilometres later, the lead of the escapees was almost unchanged.

#Giro101: 70km remaining. We are patrolling the gap to the breakaway with Svein Tuft & @SamBewley, keeping it around the 5minute mark.
? @GettyImages pic.twitter.com/8FGzSl0wke

— Mitchelton-SCOTT (@MitcheltonSCOTT) May 12, 2018

VelonLive @giroditalia data – Svein Tuft over first 150km:

Ave Power: 280W ⚡️ / Calories burned 3700 ? working hard to help the likes of Esteban Chaves conserve energy for finale

Chaves comparative data for the stage so far: Ave Power: 170W ⚡️ / Calories burned 2300 ? pic.twitter.com/bCTQMKf0dq

— Velon CC (@VelonCC) May 12, 2018

The Final Climb

Rain fell on the peloton as it approached the foot of Montevergine di Mercoglian, making the field nervous. The bunch knocked the gap down to 2:30 by the time AG2R’s Italian Matteo Montaguti and his breakmates started up.

Chris Froome crashed in a hairpin but the peloton had been calm and steady on the entire ascent. Still, he looked unsteady. With the gap only 25-seconds, Dutchman Koen Bouwman attacked from the remnants of the break. The rain pounded down and just before the final kilometre, Carapaz skipped up the road and overtook Bouwman. Pinot fought hard for bonus seconds.

Ninth place Michael Woods and Froome were in a 29-rider pack that finished 7-seconds behind Carapaz.

Sunday’s route is a long one with two Cat. 1 climbs in the final 47-km and an uncategorized climb linking them.

2018 Giro d’Italia Stage 6
1) Richard Carapaz (Ecuador/Movistar) 5:11:35
2) Davide Formolo (Italy/Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:07
3) Thibaut Pinot (France/Groupama-FDJ) s.t.
9) Michael Woods (Canada/EF-Drapac) s.t.

2018 Giro d’Italia GC
1) Simon Yates (Great Britain/Mitchelton-Scott) 31:43:12
2) Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Sunweb) +0:16
3) Esteban Chaves (Colombia/Mitchelton-Scott) +0:26
12) Michael Woods (Canada/EF-Drapac) +1:39