German Andre Greipel celebrates on the podium after winning the 6th stage of the Giro d’Italia, Tour of Italy, in Castiglione della Pescaia. (AFP)

AFP/Rome

Spaniard Alberto Contador fell in the final dash for the line but held on to the Giro d’Italia leader’s pink jersey after the sixth stage, which was won by Germany’s Andre Greipel yesterday.
Lotto rider Greipel won a sprint finish ahead of Italians Matteo Pelucchi and Sacha Modolo after the 183km ride through the Tuscan countryside.
Contador, the 2008 winner, was left slightly battered after hurting his left shoulder in a collective fall in the sprint for the line.
The Tinkoff rider attended the victory ceremony, but looked visibly shaken and signalled he could not pull on the pink jersey over his painful shoulder.
Television replays showed that the crash was caused by a spectator holding out a camera over the barrier.
The rules state that the time differences are neutralised in case of a fall or accident in the final three kilometres, except for the summit finishes.
German champion Greipel managed to cross the line just after the fall following 4hr 19min 42sec in the saddle, to finish ahead of the pursuing Pelucchi and Modolo.
“I now have the points leader’s red jersey but it’s not my main objective. What I want is to win stages,” said Greipel, who is not among the favourites for today’s seventh stage which finishes with a climb.
A breakaway of five riders in two groups—first Eduard Michael Grosu and Marek Rutkiewicz, and then Marco Bandiera, Alessandro Malaguti and Alan Marangoni—opened the race from the first hour.
The peloton however did not let the five build up a lead of more then five minutes and caught up 14 minutes from the line.
It was the third Giro stage win for Greipel, nicknamed the ‘Gorilla’, after 2008 and 2010, and his fourth victory of the season.
Greipel, 32, has also notched up six stage wins on the Tour de France and four on the Vuelta a Espana. Today’s seventh stage, the longest of this year’s race, covers 264km from Grosseto to Fiuggi, south of Rome, with the finish on a slight climb.