Joaquim Rodriguez claims the sixth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico 2012
Joaquim Rodriguez of Team Katusha grabbed the sixth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico. He crossed the finish-line in the fastest time of 4 hours, 38 minutes and 27 seconds to claim the top podium spot on Monday.
Vincenzo Nibali of Team Liquigas-Cannondale and Danilo Di Luca of Team Acqua & Sapone achieved the second and the third positions.
Nibali joined Team Katusha in 2010 and has helped the team with a number of victories during his stay with the Russian side.
The cyclist grabbed his first win of the 2012 season after a splendid performance during the 181 kilometre stage of the Italian race.
He acknowledged that the efforts made by the team during the Tour of Oman and the Tirreno-Adriatico had finally paid off.
"My only chance was to anticipate the sprint and attack from far out, because in the bunch there was Peter Sagan and I couldn't compete with him in a sprint," he noted.
He is now targeting the Vuelta al Pais Vasco as the second big goal of his 2012 season.
Nibali finished second and gained important seconds at the overall classifications. He is now holding the third overall spot after the stage 6 classifications.
"Today's second place makes me almost as happy as a victory," Nibali said. "I gained six important seconds for the general classification, and that makes me even more confident for the time trial tomorrow".
"It's clear numerical advantage and above all a psychological one. Horner is the leader but I think the man to beat is Kreuziger," he concluded.
Benat Intxausti Elorriaga and Carlos Alberto Betancur Gomez succeeded during the first and the second mountains of the race.
Christopher Horner is leading the stage 6 classifications with a total time of 29 hours, 27 minutes and 6 seconds.
Roman Kreuziger is 5 seconds behind at the second spot while Nibali is further second behind at the third position.
Rinaldo Nocentini, Michele Scarponi and Johnny Hoogerland are at the fourth, fifth and sixth positions after the stage 6 classifications.
Wout Poels, Cameron Meyer and Jon Izaguirre Insausti are leading the best young rider classifications.
With one more stage to go, Nibali is definitely amongst the favourites to grab the top podium spot during the third World Tour race of the 2012 year.
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