Molano 4th in tough Giro sprint finale

Sebastian Molano finished 4th on Stage 6 of the Giro D’italia from Castrovillari to Matera (188k).
Molano went head to head with some of the biggest names in world sprinting on the uphill finish which was won by Frenchman Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ).

The group stayed together for most of the lumpy, technical final 10km, with Diego Ulissi on hand to cover any late attacks. Molano was tasked with fighting for the win on a day which saw many of the sprinters dropped before the final climb. The Colombian was unable to add to his tally of 3 stage wins he claimed earlier in the year at the Tour Colombia 2.1, but took confidence from the high placing.

Molano : “It was a really hard sprint today with a very complicated run-in. I was given the opportunity to go for a result today and I tried to make the best of it, just missing that little bit at the finish. Today gives me a lot of confidence. Tomorrow will be another sprint stage and we’ll be focussing 100% on setting it up for Fernando.”

Brandon McNulty suffered a crash during the stage but escaped with just a minor abrasion to the hip, before remounting and finished safely in the main peloton. The young American remains 18th on GC at 2’57’’.

Tomorrow will be the flattest stage of the race and goes from Matera to Brindisi (143km) where crosswinds are expected to affect the result.

Stage 6 Results
1.Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) 4:54:38
2. Michael Matthews (Sunweb) s.t.
3. Fabio Felline (Astana) s.t.
4. Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) s.t.

General Classification after stage 6
1.Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quickstep) 22:01:01
2.Pello Bilbao (Bahrain McLaren) +43”
3.Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) +48”
18. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) +2’57”