Giro d'Italia: Stage 6 Preview - Urbino to Porto Sant'Elpidio 210 km

Like yesterday, today’s itinerary begins inland and heads towards the Adriatic, but the similarities end there in what is the first medium mountain stage of the race. Starting in the  hill town of Urbino, the climbs are short but punchy and come thick and fast. The Passo della Capella, around halfway through, is certain to see attacks, but the decisive move could well come on the smaller climb of Montegranaro, 33km from the finish and with a gradient of 18 per cent.

It’s a day on which the overall lead may well change hands, and it’s worth bearing in mind that Michele Scarponi, who before the race began was presented with the 2011 maglia rosa he won in a courtroom in February, comes from these parts.

GT: It’s quite hard to control this kind of stage. It depends whose got the jersey, they might not be too bothered about making sure it’s a sprint, depending who’s in the break. If we’ve got the jersey, for instance, we really wouldn’t want to give it up without a fight, we’d try and keep it. I think it should be a breakaway day, but you never know – if the team on the front could bring it down to three minutes, say, with 50k to go, it could tempt some of the sprinters’ teams up. It’s one of those that could go either way.

For more on this year's race read our full Giro d'Italia Preview.