After a rain-sodden stage five that was marred by crashes, including one caused by a dog, the 162-km sixth stage in Naples on Thursday was a far more pleasant ride under blue skies with the sun beating down on the riders who were glad to have dry roads.
With 25 km left, the breakaway duo of Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) and De Marchi (Jayco-AlUla) were more than two minutes ahead of the peloton, which launched its attack just in time to catch them on the final stretch.
As an exhausted Clarke and De Marchi gave way for the sprinters to take the stage, Pedersen held off Italian Jonathan Milan, German Pascal Ackermann, Australia’s Kaden Groves and Colombian Fernando Gaviria to take victory.
“I’m pretty happy, it’s what we came for. It’s nice to have a victory now, it was a tough day for the team and it’s nice to pay them back with a victory,” Pedersen said.
“It was pretty close, it was not easy to catch them (Clarke and De Marchi) for a long time. They had a lead of two minutes and we had to use all the guys available, it wasn’t easy.
“With 300 metres to go we caught them. I feel really sorry for those guys.”
Norway’s Andreas Leknessund of Team DSM retained the leader’s maglia rosa jersey with a 28-second lead over pre-race favourite Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel of Soudal Quick-Step.
Clarke, 36, said it was “devastating” to miss out on a victory after he was caught with the finish line in sight.
“It’s not nice to lose in that way... I’d probably prefer to be caught with 10 km to go rather than 200 metres. You can’t win them all, but if you don’t try then you never know. Tomorrow’s another day,” the Australian said.
“Look, at the end of the day, there’s always going to be a moment where you have to decide to stop pulling. You can’t pull all the way until 10 metres to go. We needed 10-15 more seconds. It was just the way it was.”
It was also a near-perfect comeback for stage two winner Milan, who had to change his wheel twice to continue after going down early on.
“What a day, it was really difficult. I tried to sprint at the end and I think the legs were a bit tired from the climbs,” Milan said.
Meanwhile, Ineos Grenadiers’ Geraint Thomas suffered a mechanical problem to drop back while Jumbo-Visma’s Primoz Roglic, another pre-race favourite, needed to replace his bike after a puncture.
Mark Cavendish, who was nursing bruises after a crash on the line in Wednesday’s sprint finish, hit the deck yet again early on during a descent when he was hit by a gust of wind but the 37-year-old veteran managed to finish the stage.
AAP
