"Luckily, I have strong guys around me" - A relieved Geraint Thomas finishes safely in the bunch after late mechanical at the Giro d'Italia

On what was a much calmer day than the chaos seen on stage 5 at the Giro d'Italia, INEOS Grenadiers' Geraint Thomas suffered a late scare after an ill-timed mechanical with around 10km to go.

“The chain came off the front and of the cassette. It took me a while to realise it was off the cassette too, but I got it back on," the former Tour de France winner explained to the INEOS Grenadiers official website following the conclusion to stage 6. One in which Thomas safely crossed the finish line in the bunch thanks in part to the brilliant work of his teammates who paced him back in.

“The boys were great in getting me back and into position. Luckily, I have strong guys around me - Swifty, Ganna and Puccio - they were great support It could have been a lot worse, it was just a chain coming off and nothing else, it was all good in the end," continues the Welshman. “We’ve been riding strong, hopefully we can continue that and we’ll see how the race develops.”

The stage was eventually won by Mads Pedersen as the Dane completed his set of Grand Tour victories. Meanwhile, Thomas's general classification rival Primoz Roglic also suffered a late mechanical. Much like Thomas though the Jumbo-Visma leader also managed to rejoin the peloton and save himself from any potential time gaps.