Alberto Contador’s ambitions of winning the Giro d’Italia are potentially over after a crash-affected finale to Stage 6, which was won by Lotto Soudal’s Andre Greipel.
‘Il Garibaldi‘, as the local affectionately call it, should have been about Greipel’s dominant performance in the sprint finish after the German decisively out-sprinted Matteo Pelucchi and Sacha Modolo to the line.
However, a crash-marred finale resulted in at least one rider, Daniele Colli (Nippo-Vini Fantini), abandon the Giro due to race-ending injuries.
And, after going down in the crash, Contador may be next to abandon.
After three hard-medium mountain stages the riders were happy to have a relatively easy day as they made the 183 kilometre-long journey from Montecatini Terme to Castiglione Della Pescaia. Strong crosswinds within the final third of the race soon dashed the rider’s hopes of a relaxing ride to the finish however, with the teams of the general classification contenders fighting fiercely at the head of the pack to protect their leaders from a split in the peloton.
The breakaway of the day was eventually formed by five riders from the teams of Cannondale–Garmin, CCC Sprandi Polkowice, Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec, and Nippo–Vini Fantini. Taking over control of chase duties quite early thanks to a tailwind, Lotto Soudal let the breakaway’s time gap reach a maximum of five minutes before slowly reeling them in.
Once the GC contenders were past the three kilometres to go banner and away from the danger of crosswinds splitting the peloton, the sprinters’ teams re-assumed control.
It was Lotto Soudal dominating the front of the race coming in to the sprint finish, with the Belgian team perfectly positioning Greg Henderson to open up the sprint for Greipel.
During the sprint Colli appeared to to be brought down close to the barriers by a large camera lens protruding out from the crowd and over the safety barrier. The collision and resulting crash, which looked to have dislocated the young Italian’s left arm, caused a ripple effect down the peloton and caught out several riders.
It did not take long for viewers to notice that current race leader Alberto Contador was brought down among the chaos. The Spaniard managed to remount and cross the line for Tinkoff-Saxo, but was quick to escape the attention of the media and meet with his team and race medics.
Called out to receive the Maglia Rosa for a second stage during the post-stage presentations, a sore Contador had to graciously reject putting the pink jersey on due to what the world suspected was an injury to his left arm.
Tinkoff–Saxo’s press officer later spoke to Eurosport to explain that the Spaniard had a sore knee and bad shoulder after the crash, and that the team would need to seek further medical consultation, such as taking x-rays, before deciding what was next for ‘El Pistolero’.
So heading in to Stage 7 of the 2015 Giro d’Italia, the longest stage of this year’s race, the world holds its breathe in anticipation of news regarding whether or not Alberto Contador will be fit to continue challenging for the Maglia Rosa.
Welshman
Guest
Event an injured Contdor is more than a match for Sky et al
Scott Pryde
Expert
Hmm, Contador will just hope to get through stage 7 unscathed. I suppose sitting on a bike for what could be close to 7 hours (length of the stage) wont really help his recovery process. He should be right for stage 7 though as their are no major climbs of note. Should be a day for the fast men but a break could go all the way.
LB
Guest
Stage 7 becomes very interesting, Porte has struggled to maintain his strength for three weeks previously and should be conserving energy for the mountain stage number 8. Will Porte put in a huge effort to try and destroy Contador but risk poor recovery for the mountains?
Matthew Boulden
Roar Guru
It has since come to light, since filing this report, that Alberto Contador dislocated his shoulder not once but twice. It happened once during the crash and then a second time during the post-stage presentations, ergo why declined to put the Maglia Rosa on when presented with it. The Tinkoff - Saxo team and Contador himself are optimistic of starting tomorrow's stage and assessing it on a day-by-day basis. However, due to Contador's 'out of the saddle' climbing style his performances, in my opinion, could likely be adversely affected if his shoulder does not recover quickly. Expecting to see a healthy dose of strapping around the shoulder tomorrow to support it. Meanwhile, the Giro d'Italia's medical bulletin had the following news about Daniele Colli: "Rider no. 124 Daniele COLLI (NIP) underwent x-ray examinations that confirmed a compound fracture of the left humerus, while CAT scans ruled out further fractures or damage to the internal organs of the chest and abdomen."
Sam Brown
Roar Guru
Well that would really suck the fun out of this year's Grand Tour season. So much of it was about 'can Contador do it'?