Tirreno stage 6

Jon Izagirre once again showed prowess on hilly terrain beyond his young age to hold on to 16th overall going into tomorrow's final stage in the Tirreno-Adriatico.

The youngest of the Izagirres placed a highly creditable 24th in the first chase group 16 seconds down on winner Purito Rodríguez and the following ten riders. Amets Txurruka and Juan José Oroz also showed budding form with 34th and 36th respectively, just a further four seconds in arrears.

On a bad note, Rubén Pérez succumbed to the pain and posted a DNF. The 31-year-old has been suffering from pain in his right knee since he took a tumble on the fourth stage and was forced to throw in the towel.

Tomorrow's final stage will see the peloton duke it out for the overall with a pancake-flat 9,3km ITT in and around San Benedetto del Tronto.

Stage results:

• (1, Joaquim Rodríguez, Katusha)
• 24, Jon Izagirre, 0:16
• 34, Amets Txurruka, 0:20
• 36, Juan José Oroz, s.t.
• 55, Mikel Landa, 1:20
• 62, Pablo Urtasun, s.t.
• 90, Gorka Verdugo, 6:08
• 91, Egoi Martínez, s.t.
• DNF: Rubén Pérez

General classification:

• (1, Chris Horner, RadioShack-Nissan-Trek)
• 16, Jon Izagirre, 2:42
• 26, Amets Txurruka, 9:06
• 33, Juan José Oroz, 12:49
• 55, Egoi Martínez, 20:58
• 78, Mikel Landa, 29:11
• 92, Gorka Verdugo, 34:51
• 102, Pablo Urtasun, 38:45