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Greg Van Avermaet takes Tirreno-Adriatico lead with stage six win

By Matt Westby

Monday 14 March 2016 16:06, UK

Greg Van Avermaet wins stage six of the 2016 Tirreno-Adriatico ahead of Peter Sagan
Image: Greg Van Avermaet out-sprinted Peter Sagan to win stage six

BMC Racing’s Greg Van Avermaet moved into the overall lead of the Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy by winning stage six.

The Belgian was one of eight riders who broke clear of the peloton at an intermediate sprint with 23km to go. He then clinched stage six by beating Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) in a drag race to the line.

Team Sky's Michal Kwiatkowski finished two seconds behind in third, while previous race leader Zdenek Stybar (Etixx - Quick-Step) was two seconds further back in fourth.

Van Avermaet started the day third overall, nine seconds off first place, but after receiving 10 bonus seconds for the win and another two seconds at the intermediate sprint, he is now top of the general classification and leads Stybar by seven seconds.

Van Avermaet said: "It went a bit strange. Tinkoff went for the bonus seconds (at the intermediate sprint) and I tried to grab a little bit, and I was second behind Sagan.

"We kept on going behind Quick-Step and it was a really hard final.

"In the end, I could save myself for the sprint, I won the stage and also took the overall jersey."

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Michal Kwiatkowski escapes on stage six of the 2016 Tirreno-Adriatico
Image: Michal Kwiatkowski sets the pace in the late eight-man escape group

Van Avermaet will now look to defend his lead on Tuesday's final stage, which is a flat 10km time trial starting and finishing in San Benedetto del Tronto.

He added: "It's not my speciality. I kept going better last year. 10km is pretty long for me; I'm better in prologues. But I'm in good form and I will try to give everything tomorrow. It's a strange situation that I'm going for general classification in Tirreno."

Stage six result

1 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing, 4:34:14

2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff, same time

3 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky, +2sec

4 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx - Quick-Step, +4

5 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, +7

General classification

1 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing, 20:30:43

2 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx - Quick-Step, +7sec

3 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff, +8

4 Bob Jungels (Lux) Etixx - Quick-Step, +21

5 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx - Quick-Step, same time

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