Heavily tipped as the favourite for victory at the Tirreno-Adriatico stage 7 summit finish, Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) fully lived up to his billing with a hugely impressive solo victory that also put him into the race leader's blue jersey going into the final stage.
Set up by his Mexican teammate Isaac Del Toro, Ayuso made three attacks, but was chashed down each time by Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) and Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step). When he made his fourth thrust, though, the 22-year-old Spaniard forged a gap and finished 13 second clear of Pidcock and Hindley.
Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) put up a courageous defence of the leader's jersey, but came in 50 seconds behind the winner. That dropped the Italian to third on GC behind Ayuso and Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) going into Sunday's final stage of the race.
HOW IT HAPPENED
With the GC battle still in the balance, there was never much chance of a break going the distance. But this prospect didn’t dampen the eagerness of Samuele Battistella (EF Education-EasyPost), who jumped clear soon after the start was given. After a flurry of other attacks from the peloton, the Italian was joined by Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) and Andrea Pietrobon (Polti-VisitMalta). Chris Hamilton (Picnic-PostNL) and Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) then bridged the gap to make it eight up front.
The escapees pushed their advantage out to four and a half minutes, but that gap had been trimmed back to little more than one by the time they reached the bottom of the final Frontignano climb. Once again, Battistella was the first to attack. All but Thomas and Pietrobon managed to bridge up to him, though, as Soudal and Bahrain set the pace in the fast-closing peloton.
The complexion of the race changed, though, when UAE’s Del Toro took over the pace-making at the front of the bunch. He quickly lined out the group behind him and brought the break within sight. Vendrame made a vain effort to stay clear, but was reeled in with 4.5km remaining.
Del Toro’s pressing had also thinned and then split the group of favourites, and race leader Ganna was in the wrong half of that divide. Second overall coming into the stage, Ayuso didn’t hesitate before trying to take further advantage of this, making a series of accelerations that only Pidcock, Hindley and, with some effort, Landa managed to respond to. Yet, when the Spaniard surged away for a fourth time, his three pursuers were left fighting for second place.
Ayuso will go into the final day with a significant cushion on his rivals. The stage into San Benedotto del Tronto is likely to go the way of the sprinters, making it just as likely that the UAE rider will improve on last year’s second place by winning this 60th edition of Tirreno.
Results
Tirreno-Adriatico 2025, stage six
Cartoceto > Frontignano (163km)
1. Juan Ayuso (Spa) UAE Team Emirates-XRG in 4:14:02
2. Tom Pidcock (GB) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +13s
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, at same time
4. Mikel Landa (Spa) Soudal Quick-Step, +15s
5. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +20s
6. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech, at same time
7. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +36s
8. Ben Healy (Ire) EF Education-EasyPost, +42s
9. Tobias Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +45s
10. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) XDS-Astana, +50s
General Classification
1. Juan Ayuso (Spa) UAE Team Emirates-XRG in 25:33:17
2. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious +37s
3. Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers, +38s
4. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech +42s
5. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +53s
6. Tom Pidcock (GB) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +56s
7. Mikel Landa (Spa) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:05
8. David De La Cruz (Spa) Q36.5 +1:32
9. Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain Victorious, at same time
10. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Soudal-QuickStep +1:38
Australian Michael Storer wins snow-hit Paris-Nice stage as Matteo Jorgensen retains yellow jersey
Mattias Skjelmose taken to hospital after heavy crash on stage 7 of Paris-Nice
