It was all change for the GC as the break-of-the-day took all the glory on Stage 6 of the Giro d’Italia. Fausto Masnada (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec), the strongest of the Italian duo left out front, took the stage winning honours. While second-placed UAE-Team Emirates’ Valerio Conti romped straight into the maglia rosa. The top ten positions on GC are all held by members of the 13-man breakaway as Jumbo-Visma decided not to chase after team leader Primoz Roglic was involved in a crash early in the stage.

After the torrential rain and cold of yesterday, the peloton rode under blue skies clad in their lycra bib shorts and jerseys.  Unfortunately, poor Roglic ended up in rather less lycra than he started the stage wearing after a crash left him with a nasty case of road rash and rather more buttock on show than anyone would wish. He and others involved in the crash were quickly back on the bikes and patched up by the medics.

At this point Jumbo-Visma stopped chasing the breakaway. Perhaps happy to let someone else shoulder the burden of the pink jersey for a few days and certainly happy to take a breather with their injured captain. Roglic drops to 11th overall 5:24 mins behind new race leader Conti. Only time will tell if he and the other GC contenders -particularly those with top ten ambitions- will rue the time handed over today to members of the breakaway: Conti, Masnada +3:14, Andrey Amador (Movistar) +3:27,  Sam Oomen (Sunweb) +4:57

Rider of the Race

To the victor the spoils! Of course the VeloVoices daily accolade goes to the Italian riders who took tappa e maglia between them. Please welcome to the podium the marvellously named Fausto Masnada

and the youthful joy of Valerio Conti.

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Masnada was strong all day from his break-forming attack in the morning to his move on the last climb with 28km to go that only Conti could go with. What I loved most was their willingness to work together. It was a match made in cycling heaven as the pair cooperated to achieve both their goals. Masnada the strongest on the climbs, Conti taking his pulls where he could.

Both were understandably emotional at the finish line.

I’m incredibly happy. I knew I was on form (Masnada recently took two stages at the Tour of the Alps, ed.) but it’s always hard to win at the Giro d’Italia but I’ve done it. We knew the break could go because it was a difficult stage to control. I had to play my cards and went in the first break. When it was caught, I knew I had to go again and it worked out. Fausto Masnada

Let’s not forget this was the Italian team’s first Giro win since 2012. No wonder the team owner, the inimitable Gianni Savio, was in a hurry to get to the podium presentation, what a day for the all sponsors on that famous jersey.

Can you imagine what it means to wear the leader’s jersey at your home Grand Tour?

I’m struggling to understand what I’ve done. As we rode I knew it was possible and I’ve dreamt about it with the team in last few days but there’s a huge difference between dreaming and actually doing it. I felt good and I’m on form this year so I went for it. Valerio Conti

All this and dodging the wildlife on the road…

And the tifosi go wild

The home fans had plenty to celebrate in San Giovanni Rotundo. Not only did they witness two Italian riders duke it out for stage honours and the maglia rosa presented to the first Italian for  three years. They also got to celebrate Giovanni Carboni (Bardiani-CSF) taking the maglia blanca as Best Young Rider and Trek-Segafredo’s Giulio Ciccone retain the maglia azurra as King of the Mountains. What a day for the passionate tifosi

Last word

There were a lot of glorious names in the break…

Stage results – top 5

1 Fausto Masnada (Androni Giacatolli-Sidermec) 5:45:01

2 Valerio Conti (UAE-Team Emirates) +0:05

3 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) +0:38

4 Ruben Plaza (Israel Cycling Academy) same time

5 Giovanni Carboni (Bardiani-CSF) +0:43

General Classification – top 10

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1 Valerio Conto  (UAE-Team Emirates) 25:22:00

2 Giovanni Carboni (Bardiani-CSF) +1:41

3 Nans Peters (AG2R La Mondiale +2:09

4 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) +2:12

5 Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) +2:19

6 Amaro Antunes (CCC) +2:25

7 Fausto Masnada (Androni Giacattoli – Sidermec) +3:14

8 Pieter Serry (Deceuninck – Quick Step) +3:25

9 Andrey Amador (Movistar) +3:27

10 Sam Oomen (Sunweb) +4:57

All the Jerseys 

Maglia rosa – Valerio Conti (UAE-Team Emirates)

Maglia blanca – Giovanni Carboni (Bardiani-CSF)

Maglia azzurra – Giulio Ciccone (Trek – Segafredo)

Maglia ciclamino – Pascal Ackermann (BORA – hansgrohe)

For full stage review and race results, go to cyclingnews.