Peter Sagan sprinted to his first victory in Tinkoff-Saxo, after his team-mates dominated a treacherous sixth stage at Tirreno-Adriatico.
The Slovakian champion out-sprinted 2013 Milan-San Remo winner Gerald Ciolek to win in the driving rain on a day when many of his sprinting rivals – Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep) included – were dropped by the bunch.
And Sagan was the man to profit, finally ending his wait for a stage win after two second-place finishes earlier in the race.
After the snow-battered summit of the Terminillo on stage five, heavy rain swept in for stage six.
A number of early attacks were short-lived, before three men – Stijn Devolder (Trek Factory Racing), Yuki Arashiro (Europcar) and Alessandro Vanotti (Astana) went clear.
The bunch – with rain capes seeing full use throughout – was led by Tinkoff-Saxo and Movistar, the latter protecting race leader Nairo Quintana in the blue jersey.
With a tough pace set on the front, the peloton split at times with a reduced group of GC men temporarily going clear early and then a large group of sprinters caught out.
Cavendish, alongside team-mates Niki Terpstra, Mark Renshaw and Zdenek Stybar, were in the back group, while Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida), Tyler Farrar (MTN-Qhubeka) and Luka Mezgec (Giant-Alpecin) also missed out.
The pace accounted for the break too, who were brought back with more than 50 kilometres still to ride and there was no let-up in the torrid weather conditions either.
Sagan’s struggles to remove a gel from his back jersey pocket highlighted the problems the cold and wet were causing but his Tinkoff-Saxo team-mates, led by Ivan Basso, kept the tempo high on the front, knowing his sprinting rivals were in trouble.
As they approached the penultimate lap of the finishing circuit, Vanotti accelerated again – soon joined by Alexis Vuillermoz (Ag2r-La Mondiale) – but Tinkoff-Saxo, aided by Pim Ligthart (Lotto-Soudal) kept things under control.
Vuillermoz went solo on the final lap, but again Tinkoff-Saxo remained unperturbed – the sprinters’ group having long since given up the chase further back.
The race came together inside the final three kilometres to set up a bunch sprint, but Sagan by this point was lacking in team-mates after their efforts through the day.
MTN-Qhubeka seized the initiative, with Matt Goss, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Reinardt Janse van Rensburg and Ciolek lined up on the front.
When Boasson Hagen peeled off, however, Sagan came round Ciolek to finally open his Tinkoff-Saxo account.
Tirreno-Adriatico 2015: stage six – result
1) Peter Sagan (SVK) – Tinkoff-Saxo – 5.04.13hrs
2) Gerald Ciolek (GER) – MTN-Qhubeka – ST
3) Jens Debusschere (BEL) – Lotto-Soudal
4) Magnus Cort Nielsen (DEN) – Orica-GreenEDGE
5) Maximiliano Richeze (ARG) – Lampre-Merida
6) Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) – MTN-Qhubeka
7) Nikias Arndt (GER) – Giant-Alpecin
8) Sam Bennett (IRL) – Bora-Argon 18
9) Ramunas Navardauskas (LTU) – Cannondale-Garmin
10) Alexey Lutsenko (KAS) – Astana
General classification
1) Nairo Quintana (COL) – Movistar – 24.58.58hrs
2) Bauke Mollema (NED) – Trek Factory Racing +39”
3) Rigoberto Uran (COL) – Etixx-QuickStep +48”
4) Thibaut Pinot (FRA) – FDJ +57”
5) Alberto Contador (ESP) – Tinkoff-Saxo +1.03
6) Adam Yates (GBR) – Orica-GreenEDGE +1.04
7) Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA) – Ag2r-La Mondiale +1.06
8) Joaquim Rodriguez (ESP) – Katusha +1.07
9) Steve Cummings (GBR) – MTN-Qhubeka +1.12
10) Wout Poels (NED) – Team Sky +1.13
