Rate it!

1 votes

Francesco Chicchi of Italy bolted clear of his rivals in a sprint finish to claim the sixth stage of the Tour of Missouri.

Chicchi nosed out Norway's Thor Hushovd of Norway and Argentine Lucas Sebastian Heado to win the 177.4 kilometre (110.3 mile) Chillicothe to St Joseph stage in three hours, 41 minutes and 41 seconds at an average speed of 47.85 kph (29.85 mph), the fastest of the week-long event.

American David Zabriskie finished well back in the pack in 66th position but retained his overall lead heading into the last day.

"The race was very hard at the end and it was difficult to keep pace," said Chicchi, who also won a stage of this year's Tour Down Under in Australia.

"We were behind at 500 metres, but a teammate helped me launch my sprint with 250 metres and my legs felt as good as they've felt all week."

Zabriskie, who took the overall lead when he won Friday's time-trial, was credited with the same time as his two closest rivals, Sweden's Gustav Larsson and American Tom Zirbel.

Zabriskie heads into the final stage, a 116.4-kilometre (72.3-mile) Kansas City circuit race, with a 30 second lead over Larsson and a 44 second advantage over Zirbel.

"Up until today there hadn't been a whole lot of aggressive racing," said Zabriskie.

"But after we got through the time trial (stage 5), everyone said, 'who cares?' There's only two days left, so there was some aggressive racing."

Vuelta a Espana stage 14 LIVE at 3.30pm on Sunday on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521); Also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe

Reuters