"The tempo of the others was just too high" - Aleksandr Vlasov has to settle for sixth at Giro dell'Emilia

Aleksandr Vlasov was one of the dark horses for victory heading into the Giro dell'Emilia but despite looking bright and attempting an attack on the final climb, the BORA - hansgrohe man was forced to settle for sixth place.

“I won here before so it’s a race that I like doing," said the 2020 Giro dell'Emilia champion in a post-race interview with quotes collected by BORA - hansgrohe's official X (Twitter) account. "There was a pretty talented field in attendance today, so the racing wasn’t easy."

The pace was high in the bunch throughout the day in Italy and heading onto the final climb to the line, Vlasov was in an elite leading group. Though, as mentioned Vlasov did attempt an attack, he was quickly nullified with Primoz Roglic eventually prevailing ahead of Tadej Pogacar and Simon Yates.

"I went at my own pace, and then I was in the leading group of favourites, where I was feeling good," he continues. "In the end, I put the pedal to the metal as far ahead as I could, as there was the chance that I’d be able to make it from there. But ultimately when it really ramped up in the finale, the tempo of the others was just too high.”