Speedy 'Tamu' puts Greece on the map

In the absence of a fully-fledged sprinter in the team's ranks, a veteran track specialist from 'the Land of Gods' is doing his best to give Euskaltel some representation in the high-speed finishes at the Giro d'Italia.

He grabbed 13th on the race's opening day, and on Thursday's sixth stage Ioannis Tamouridis finished a creditable 15th.

Mark Cavendish prevailed with some superiority in what was a fairly chaotic dash for the line in Margherita di Savoia after an almost pancake-flat 169km ride from Mola di Bari.

The guys in orange spent most of the day looking out for team captain Samuel Sánchez's interests. And they did that reasonably well, keeping their leader close to the front at the key points of the stage and avoiding the mass pile-up that held up close to 50 percent of the peloton on the first of the two 16km finishing circuits.

In the finale, 'Tamu', as he's become affectionately known among his team-mates, was given a free pass to ride for his own chances and ended up beating the likes of Francisco Ventoso, John Degenkolb and Sacha Modolo to grab another top 20 result.

It might not indicate a sprint win if forthcoming any time soon, but it does go some way to prove he's merited the chance he's been given at WorldTour level this year.

Speaking post-race, the first Greek ever to ride a Grand Tour says he's doing it all for the team.

"I lack the top speed, but I handle constant high speed quite well. That's down to my track background", he said. "I try to take advantage of that to help the team out, support 'Samu' on the flat parts of the stages or to get a good finishing position in order for our team car to get a better position in the queue".

No matter the reason, he's putting his name, and his country at that, out there.

Results (full results here):

• (1, Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), 3:56:03)
• 15, Ioannis Tamouridis, s.t.
• 62, Egoi Martínez, s.t.
• 97, Samuel Sánchez, s.t.
• 108, Jorge Azanza, s.t.
• 111, Gorka Verdugo, s.t.
• 152, Robert Vrecer, s.t.
• 160, Miguel Mínguez, s.t.
• 200, Ricardo Mestre, 7:01