"I wanted to win so I tried to play the game with Clarke" - Alessandro De Marchi's gamble doesn't pay off at Giro d'Italia

About 250 meters. That was the distance that early breakaway riders Alessandro De Marchi and Simon Clarke still had to cover when they saw the sprinting peloton pass by in the sixth stage of the Giro d'Italia.

"It's terrible," Clarke told Eurosport afterwards. "It's not fun to lose like this, to get caught so close to the line," Clarke continued. “I would rather have been taken back with ten kilometers to go than two hundred meters from the end. But you can't always win. And if you don't try, you never know. Tomorrow is another day.”

Going into the last kilometer, De Marchi and Clarke seemed to be able to break up for the victory, but the Italian did not take over after passing the flamme rouge. “In the end there is always a point where you have to decide not to relay anymore,” says Clarke understandingly. “You cannot not ride until ten meters before the line. We needed ten, fifteen seconds more. But that's just the way it is.”

De Marchi spoke to Sporza after the ride. “I wanted to win so I tried to play the game with Clarke. He is faster than me”, explained the 36-year-old Italian from Jayco AlUla his actions in the last kilometer. "I didn't take over, something I've never done in my career."