Giro d’Italia: XDS Astana’s Davide Ballerini wins stage six in Naples

In the final corner, on rain-slick cobblestones, a crash occurred to Ballerini’s left, involving XDS Astana Team sprinter Matteo Malucelli. Fortunately, no serious injuries were reported. Victory comes when you least expect it. Today, our plan was to help Matteo Malucelli fight for the sprint win. The whole team worked for that, but in the end everything turned out differently. Entering the final corner, the riders to my left crashed, while I managed to pass on the inside line. Then I heard on the radio: ‘Go, go!’ – I think it was Matteo, who, as it turned out, was also involved in the crash. So after exiting the corner, I launched my sprint, giving 100% and hoping I could stay ahead until the finish. Everything worked out, and it’s something incredible! Every year, coming to the Giro d’Italia, I hoped to fight for a stage victory – it has always been my goal. And this time it finally happened, even if in such an unexpected way. We have started this Giro really well. The whole team is motivated, the atmosphere is fantastic, everyone is working together toward the same goal and supporting each other. So first of all, I want to thank my teammates, both for today’s stage and for the first week of the Giro, which we are riding at a very high level. I also want to say a huge thank you to everyone who supported and continues to support me, especially my family and my girlfriend. Today is simply an amazing day, said Davide Ballerini. For XDS Astana Team this is already the team’s second stage victory at this year’s Giro – earlier Thomas Silva won Stage 2 and wore the pink jersey for two days. After six stages, Christian Scaroni sits in 3rd place in the General Classification, while XDS Astana Team leads the team classification. Earlier, Qazinform reported XDS Astana Team rider Henok Mulubrhan secured second place overall in the final General Classification of the Baku–Khankendi Azerbaijan Cycling Race.