Robert Kiserlovski (Tinkoff) and Sebastien Minard (AG2R – La Mondiale), involved in yesterday finale crash, did not start stage 6 from Monforte de Lemos, where the peloton paid homage to the victims of the earthquake in Italy with a minute of silence. Several attempts took place from the gun and the pace was too high for Tour de Suisse winner Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana). The Colombian, who broke two teeth in a stage 3 crash, called it quits.
The serious breakaway of the day began at km 45 and involved 10 riders -– Andrey Zeits (Astana), Kevin Reza (FDJ), Jan Bakelants (AG2R - La Mondiale), Alberto Losada (Katusha), Gert Dockx (Lotto Soudal), Omar Fraile (Dimension Data), Mathias Frank (IAM Cycling), Valerio Conti (Lampre - Merida), Laurent Didier (Trek-Segafredo), José Mendes and Gregor Muhlberger (Bora-Argon18). But the peloton, led in turn by Darwin Atapuma's BMC and by Orica-BankExchange, never let the gap with the escapees move over 2:30.
The group split in the ascent of the 2nd category Alto Alenza, the only classified climb of the day. Last year's king of the mountain Omar Fraile went on his own and took his lead close to three minutes with 50 km to go while his former companions Zeits, Bakelants, Frank, Didier and Losada kept chasing 1:20 behind him. Losada, who missed a turn, and Didier were later dropped.
Aberto Contador's Tinkoff team-mates took over from Orica-BikeExchange at the front of the bunch, quickly followed by Alejandro Valverde's Movistar, who seized the reins in the twisted finale, which saw Lotto-Soudal's leader Bart De Clercq crash heavily.
Zeits, Bakelants and Frank caught Fraile 19 km from the line and Frank seized his chance to attack on the junction. Bakelants and Zeits were caught 5 km from the finale as Dani Moreno (Movistar) and Simon Yates surged to chase behind Frank. The Briton caught the Swiss and dropped him with three kilometers to go, going on to clinch his most prestigious victory to date, a month after the end of a four-month doping ban. Darwin Atapuma (BMC) retained his overall lead.
