Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) showed that he will be the man to beat at Sunday's Milan-San Remo as he took victory on the sixth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico ahead of teammate Alessandro Petacchi.
After Marcel Kittel had been dropped on the last climb of the day, a crash in the penultimate kilometre took most of the rest of the field out of contention, leaving Omega-Pharma Quickstep to deliver Cavendish to the line to take his second individual victory of the season by a handsome margin.
With a short classified climb after only 8km it was unsurprising to see a four-man group, consisting of Jack Bauer (Garmin-Sharp), Cesare Benedetti (NetApp-Endura), Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky), and Steve Morabito (BMC Racing) escape from the gun. The break gained a maximum advantage of slightly over five minutes before Tinkoff-Saxo took control of the peloton to prevent the gap growing any further.
After skirting along the Adriatic coast for much of the day, the bunch turned inland with 50km remaining for the climb to Sant'Elpido a Mare. Just 4.4km long and averaging 4.5%, on another day this unassuming climb would have had no impact on the race result.
But, with Cannondale setting a hard pace on the front, Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) started to slip off the back, quickly losing a minute on the main bunch, and despite hard work from his team the German was never able to regain contact.
With their advantage falling, the break started to fight among themselves, as first Benedetti then Kennaugh were dropped. With 8km remaining, Morabito and Bauer were finally caught, opening the door for a late attack from Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing).
The peloton was understandably eager to shut down the attack by the former world champion, and when he was caught with 3.5km remaining it was Omega Pharma-Quickstep, led by former blue jersey Michael Kwiatkowski, who took up the reins on the front of the peloton.
The much-maligned Belgian sprint train has been criticised in the past for coming to the fore too early, but this time they were justified in taking control, as Marcel Sieberg (Lotto-Belisol) crashed behind, causing a fracture in the bunch, and leaving the five men of Omega Pharma-Quickstep with a gap over the rest as they went under the flamme rouge.
From there it was only a matter of completing the formalities: Kwiatkowski to Trentin; Trentin to Renshaw; Renshaw to Petacchi; Petacchi to Cavendish; and Cavendish over the line, with a handsome margin of some 25 metres over Peter Sagan (Cannondale) in third.
Meanwhile it was an uneventful day for the GC contenders, with Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) looking set to take overall victory as he takes a two minute advantage into tomorrow's final time trial.
Stage 6 Result: Bucchianico - Porto Sant'Elpidio, 189km
1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 4:16:15
2. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quickstep +00:00
3. Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale +00:00
4. Arnaud Démare (Fra) FDJ.fr +00:00
5. Tony Hurel (Fra) Europcar +00:00
6. Robert Wagner (Ger) Belkin Pro Cycling +00:00
7. Kristian Sbaragali (Ita) MTN-Qhubeka +00:00
8. Bartosz Huzarski (Pol) NetApp-Endura +00:00
9. Mark Renshaw (Aus) Omega Pharma-Quickstep +00:00
10. Davide Appollonio (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale +00:00
General Classification after Stage 6
1. Albert Contador (Esp) Tinkoff-Saxo 25:17:51
2. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar +02:08
3. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff-Saxo +02:15
4. Julian Arredondo (Col) Trek Factory Racing +02:39
5. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale +02:40
6. Mikel Nieve (Esp) Team Sky +02:50
7. Daniel Moreno (Esp) Katusha +02:51
8. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale +02:56
9. Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Cannondale +02:58
10. Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Trek Factory Racing +03:06
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