Magnier wins Giro opener after sprint crash chaos
Favourite for the points jersey, Italian Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek, was part of the group but unleashed his awesome power too late to catch the top three, finishing fourth. "We knew the narrow road would be tricky. It's my first time sprinting against this big sprinter [Milan] - I'm super happy to win," said Magnier.
Fellow sprinter Dylan Groenewegen appeared to be injured in the crash, riding over the line gingerly. None of the expected main contenders for the overall pink jersey, including Denmark's two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard, were affected and crossed the line without losing time thanks to the 3km rule, which allows riders caught up in incidents within that distance to avoid a time penalty. On the penultimate day of the women's Vuelta, two-time world champion Anna van der Breggen took the overall leader's red jersey after winning a wet stage six on the steep slopes of Les Praeres in north-west Spain.
The 36-year-old Dutchwoman, who crashed towards the end of stage five on Thursday, displaced overnight leader Lotte Kopecky of Belgium, who retained the sprint points jersey. Spaniard Paula Blasi was second on Friday, eight seconds off the pace, while France's Marion Bunel finished a further 21 seconds behind in third. Van der Breggen also leads Blasi, 23, and Bunel, 21, in the general classification.
"It was a really hard day. All day I was fighting and a climb like this I think I never saw before, so it was a hard climb," said SDX Works' Van der Breggen. The seventh and final stage takes place on Saturday and starts in La Pola Llaviana/Pola de Laviana and finishes on L'Angliru after 132.
9km. While the Tour de France likes to focus on the wealthier, seemingly more salubrious parts of Europe to undertake a Grand Depart (such as Barcelona this year and the UK next), the Giro has been commended for embracing less celebrated locations for its Grande Partenza in recent times, such as Hungary and Albania. Bulgaria was resplendent in Friday's sun-dappled holiday resort of Nessebar for the first of three stages in the eastern European country which has not had too much impact on world sport since Hristo Stoichkov led them to a football World Cup semi-final in 1994.