Milan Furious After Wet Finale, Ballerini Wins

Jonathan Milan will have to wait to win at the Giro d’Italia after the Italian sprint ace was caught up in a final-corner crash while compatriot Davide Ballerini stayed upright to win a sloppy stage 6.

The skies opened up with showers just as the bunch roared into Naples on a technical, cobblestone finale that riders like Milan were complaining about.

Showers turned the roads into an ice rink and several top sprinters crashed on a the final corner, including Dylan Groenewegen and Milan, who didn’t crash, but saw his sprint disrupted, leaving the Italian winless so far in this Giro.

Ballerini, who was supposed to be leading out a teammate Matteo Malucelli, found himself clear and fended off a surging Jasper Stuyven, whose tires were slipping on the wet cobbles in the final sprint.

“I really don’t get why we have to try to find these complicated finishes,” Milan said on the line. “We knew it could rain, and maybe it could be safer like some years ago when we could just go straight.”

Tensions were already high following Wednesday’s brutal rainy stage and with forecasts calling for showers, teams and riders pushed organizers to alter the finale coming into the narrow cobblestone streets of Naples.

Rain only started to fall moments before the peloton arrived, turning the already slick urban streets into treacherous conditions.

Milan — who is winless so far in this Giro — said riders crashed in front of him on the fight for position coming into a rain-soaked final right corner.

Unibet Rose Rocket’s leadout man Elmar Reinders slipped out, bringing Groenewegen along with him.

Bikes and bodies collapsed in front of him, and he couldn’t hold back his frustration when speaking to Eurosport.

“With two drops of water, we get a huge mess. I’m a bit disappointed because I was in a good position, and I’m in good shape. I’m feeling good,” he said. “But yeah, we have to try to look for these things now, maybe for a bit of hype. Sometimes I really don’t get it.”

One rider’s misfortune is another’s good luck.

Ballerini, a former leadout man for Mark Cavendish, steered through the chaos and heard the call over the race radio to go for the sprint.

He held off Stuyven and at 31, earns his first Giro stage win.

“I was thinking of winning a stage of the Giro but certainly not this one and not this way,” Ballerini said. “When we took the last corner, I saw two guys going down. I was told to go for it. I was hoping for the line to come quickly but it was still quite far and I was at my limit. Fortunately I made it.”

Overnight leader Afonso Eulálio finished safely in the bunch to carry the pink jersey into Friday’s summit finish at Blockhaus.

Giro d’Italia stage 6 results