The finish was not even close. Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team dominated the front so much in the final kilometers of 189km Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 6 on Monday that they had five riders in front of Mark Cavendish with about 2.6 kilometers to go. The team was technically sound navigating final turns and kept the pace high enough on the front to line out the field. OPQS hit the corners with confidence already in great position on the front, and a crash happened behind them that made matters even worse for other teams.
When it came down to just Alessandro Petacchi and Cavendish with a couple hundred meters to go, there was a considerable distance between those two and the rest of the field. Cavendish launched with no one around, and Petacchi was able to throw his hand up in celebration and still cross the finish line for a 1-2 finish. Mark Renshaw was also 9th.
OPQS timed the effort perfectly. Cannondale forced a high pace earlier in the stage while a breakaway was up the road, causing Giant-Shimano sprinter Marcel Kittel to lose contact. Then, when the breakaway was caught inside 10km to go, Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) went off the front. He was brought back with 3.4km to go. #OPQS then moved up on the right, all five riders of the leadout train ready to guide the Manx Missile to launching position. They completed the effort with a victory, approaching the final kilometers with high motivation and plenty of power.
This is the 17th victory, in three disciplines, for OPQS in 2014. It is also the second victory for OPQS at Tirreno-Adriatico, as they won the TTT. OPQS also contended the GC until yesterday, as both Cavendish and Michal Kwiatkowski wore the Maglia Azzurra at different points of the race.
"I'm incredibly happy," Cavendish said. "Yesterday I felt really the worst I've felt in a long time. Considering the day before, today I felt really good even from the beginning. The team stayed with me, with one goal today obviously to win the sprint. Kwiatkowski was sad about yesterday, but he gave everything today to try and get us the win. We didn't have to work as we worked the whole week. We're tired. We knew Cannondale would try to break it up on the last climb, another difficult climb. But the team stayed with me, especially Kwiato and Tony keeping me out of the wind and bringing me back to the front as soon as possible. Then that lead out, that leadout was fast. The whole team was fabulous in the final. We stayed together, we didn't get carried away and go too early. So we had the all the big motors in the last four kilometers. Tony just went on the front with no one to match us. Then Kwiato went and took us into the last kilometer. it was down to Matteo, Renshaw, Petacchi, and myself. I knew when Renshaw went with about 600 meters to go, I knew it would be hard for anyone to pass because we were going that fast. We were doing more than 1000 watts for the last 600 meters. It was like doing a sprint. You know with the kind of team we have here it is always going to be fast. You saw it in the team time trial. But to get it perfect technically like we did I was super super happy with that. We can go home and celebrate this victory tonight, and go for a good result with our two big engines tomorrow: Kwiato and Tony. I feel like Omega Pharma - Quick-Step brought a strong team here. Not just in the legs, but a group of friends. It really feels like a family. It's a nice situation to be in. There isn't a lot of pressure, we just want to go out and do well. It's so refreshing and nice to be back like that. We've got 23-year-olds like Kwiato and Matteo, and 40-year-olds like Alessandro. But it really feels like a bunch of kids just going out to race their bikes."
OPQS looks next to the final stage tomorrow: A 9.1km ITT. UCI World TT Champion Tony Martin and Michal Kwiatkowski will be eyeing this stage for top results.
"I know the stage from last year, it was a good win," Martin said of the time trial course. "So, I'm pretty motivated. It looks like the same parcours from the book. I had a good feeling there last year. I think it suits me really well. I saw today my condition is good and I've recovered from the previous two stages. There is some power left. I am focused and I really would like to go for my first individual time trial victory this year."
