Tirreno-Adriatico 2014 - Stage 6

Tirreno-Adriatico's sixth stage this year was a flat day, 189 kilometres from Bucchianico to Porto Sant'Elpidio. It would be the sprinter's last chance to get something out of the race before the race finished with a time trial the next day. Alberto Contador held over two minutes on his nearest rival, Nairo Quintana, at the start of the stage. He wouldn't have been expecting to lose any time.

A breakaway did try its hand, and it contained Peter Kennaugh (Sky), Steve Morabito (BMC Racing), Jack Bauer (Garmin-Sharp) and Cesare Benedetti of Team NetApp-Endura. They carried out a steady tempo for much of the stage, and had around five minutes by the time the race reached the fifty kilometre mark. 

Although all was calm at the front of the race, this was not the case at the back on the first climb of the day. Marcel Kittel, the man who won four stages of the 2013 Tour de France, was struggling to stay in contact. As a result, Peter Sagan's Cannondale team went to the front, and the pace was significantly increased. Kittel's elastic snapped when Andre Greipel's Lotto-Belisol team also got involved.

Kittel's Giant-Shimano team attempted to get the big German back to the front for a sprint, but he would never again see the front of the race, with his group, which also contained Sam Bennett, getting as close as thirty seconds away from the peloton at their nearest. The pace was high going into the closing stages of the race, and the break were brought back with no problem.

Philippe Gilbert attempted a brief dig off the front, until Omega Pharma-Quickstep started to dictate proceedings. With around two kilometres to go, a crash occurred in the peloton, taking out a number of Andre Greipel's lead-out men. It wouldn't matter though, as Omega Pharma-Quickstep landed Cavendish in such a commanding position, they took out a rare sprinting one-two, with Alessandro Petacchi following Cavendish across the line.

Peter Sagan finished third, and Alberto Contador finished safely in the peloton to ensure he went into the next day's time trial with a commanding lead, one that he was confident would not be challenged by Quintana, who himself would admit is a weaker time triallist than El Pistolero.