CYCLING Live

Giro d'Italia - Bressanone/Brixen - Mayrhofen

No comments yet - Leave a comment

Live Comments

- - Di Luca comes home ninth, 36 seconds behind Scarponi. Thanks for joining me, check out our cycling page for a full report from the race and come back tomorrow for stage seven from Innsbruck to Chiavenna.
- - The peloton come through now. To find out what it means in terms of the Giro overall take a look at our race standings by clicking on this here link
- - SCARPONI TAKES THE STAGE!!! The 29-year-old Italian broke from the leading back of five and has shown real composure to win what his arguably his greatest victory to date.
2km - Scarponi looks fairly comfortable. He should hold on for victory from here, but you never know.
3km - The closing section of this stage will see the riders negotiate some very tight roads. We could be in for some real drama.
5km - Kiryienka is just 11 seconds ahead of the pack now and falling away dramatically. Scarponi's lead is 1:13.
10km - We're into the final 10km. Gatto and Bonnafond have been caught by the peloton. Kiryienka runs out of gas and SCARPONI PULLS AWAY!!!
15km - Di Luca and Co are 1:52 behind the leaders. The descent is over and we have a slight climb to the finish now.
20km - The average speed of the riders today is just over 42kmh. Scarponi and Kiryienka and back together and the pair are having a few words. It will be interesting to see what happens.
25km - Kiryienka is back within 14 seconds of Scarponi.
30km - Kiryienka has a problem. He needs a quick tyre change and loses 30 seconds in the process. The question is whether Scarponi will let him catch up.
35km - Danilo Di Luca and his merry men are around four minutes behind the leaders.
35km - The overall descent here is about 1000m over 40km. Scarponi and Kiryienka are back together.
40km - Here's how we stand. Scarponi leads Kiryienka by six seconds. Bonnafond and Gatto are 40 seconds further back still, with Sorenson another 30 seconds behind them.
45km - Stefano Garzelli is making a move from the pack. He's 1:56 behind Scarponi and Kiryienka. The leading pair are now approaching the summit.
50km - Sorenson is falling away now. The Saxo Bank rider is nearly a minute behind the leading pair now.
60km - The front two of Scarponi and Kiryienka are 35 seconds clear of the three they broke from. The Hochkrimml climb is beginning to get the riders working hard now.
65km - Kiryienka and Scarponi have broken from the leading five and taken the lead on. Bonnafond, Gatto and Sorenson are falling back from them.
70km - Glorious sunshine in Italy as the riders make their way in the shadow of the Alps.
75km - The chasing pack are gaining. The riders are dealing with a gentle incline now, building towards the climb to Hochkrimml.
80km - The leading five now lead by 9:38 after a steep descent that followed Felbertauern.
100km - Bonnafond, Gatto, Kiryienka, Scarponi and Sorenson and eight minutes clear as they reach The Felbertauern tunnel. It's 5km on a slight downhill line now, before the race down a steep slope.
105km - The leading pack are now just 5km from the Felbertauern tunnel and the summit of this climb.
115km - The leading pack have extended their lead to seven minutes now. They'll take some catching.
120km - The difference between the escaping group and the main body is 6:42.
125km - Scarponi is effectively the holder of the pink jersey, having been 6:19 behind Di Luca at the start of the stage. The LPR riders including the Italian are at the head of the peleton.
130km - Our British blogger Chris Froome of Barloworld has relayed his crash on stage 5; to read it click here.
135km - They are well over the Austrian border by now and heading more or less north after an easterly beginning up to Lienz. From Mittersill they head west to the flat finish.
140km - Still they build their advantage - 6:52 now. They will feel the extra work on the climb, you can be sure of that.
145km - The lead is 6:32 at Lienz.
150km - As the riders approach Lienz, they will be readying themselves for some serious climbing. There are 30km of gradual uphill before the climb to the Felbertauern tunnel begins; that is 15.1km long and rises 657m - average gradient 4.4 per cent.
155km - There is now a gap of 6:38 between Bonnafond (Ag2r), Kiryienka (Caisse d'Epargne), Gatto (Team ISD), Scarponi (Diquigiovanni) and Chris-Anker Sorensen and the peleton.
160km - They are pushing on again, 5:50 clear as they come to Tassenbach - on the slow descent now.
165km - Bonnafond is the first of the leaders, followed by Kiryienka, Gatto, Scarponi and Sorensen.
170km - It is steadying: at the Sillian it stands at 4:40.
175km - The lead is now over four and a half minutes; 4:38 to be exact.
180km - Kasper Klostergaard is also among the leaders, as is Guillaume Bonnafond.
185km - The gap is 3:15 after around 64km.
195km - By Dobbiaco the five have moved 46 seconds clear...
200km - Vasil Kiryienka, Oscar Gatto and Michele Scarponi are among a group of five who go on the attack.
205km - The escapees are swallowed up again easily enough.
210km - There are 13 riders in the leading group. They are 13 seconds ahead.
215km - Russia's Denis Menchov (Rabobank) won the 125km fifth stage yesterday and sits fifth overall, 50 seconds behind the leader. Michael Rogers (Colombia) and Levi Leipheimer (Astana) separate him from second-placed Lokvist (Colombia).
220km - The riders are compact at present as the climb gets gradually steeper. No breakaways as yet.
225km - Those first 60km contain a rise of 700 metres as the riders approach Austria, where the greater proportion of the stage is contested. Across the border there is a descent to the medieval town of Lienz next to the Drava and Isel rivers.
230km - The Gerlospass - the second of the big climbs - after 203km is a particularly hardcore section of today's course, but there is opportunity for the riders to make the ground back up on the long run-in to the finish.
235km - Danilo Di Luca was pretty in pink yesterday at the Alpe di Siusi, the Italian dislodging Swede Thomas Lovkvist by five seconds. The LPR team leader said: "You do not refuse the pink jersey, even though there are two long stages to come. It will be difficult to keep it, it will be necessary to ride more smartly. I had the same situation in 2007 (the year of his victory). I can win - but we must not commit errors."
243km - The opening kilometres are uphill then there is a long, slow climb to around 60km. After a descent there are two steep climbs on this intermediate stage.
248km - Our riders are away on this sixth stage of the Giro d'Italia between Bressanone and Mayrhofen.