Demare wins his second successive stage at Giro

Arnaud Demare doubled up as he edged out Caleb Ewan and Mark Cavendish to take victory on stage six of the Giro d'Italia in Scalea. The Frenchman had taken his first Grand Tour stage victory in two years on Wednesday but had to wait barely 24 hours more for a second as he followed up the win in Messina by beating Ewan in a photo finish as Cavendish faded to third, hitting his handlebars in frustration as they crossed the line. The Manx-born Cavendish - who went long with his sprint to win stage three - had been the first to light it up, but had Ewan attached to his wheel.

Then, as the Australian powered past him, Demare emerged and took the victory with a bike throw on the line. "It was very tight," Demare said. "I had the feeling that I had won but it was hot so I waited for the photo-finish.

A win is sometimes decided by very little. It's in my favour today. The team has done a tremendous job.

My positioning was excellent at every roundabout. "It's another great team victory. I only had 100 metres to overhaul Cavendish.

I threw my bike on the line and it made the difference. Many people underestimate me but it's my 86th victory today, my seventh at the Giro d'Italia. It counts.

It's wonderful." Ewan had seen his Lotto-Soudal sprint train get broken up on a roundabout around 3km from the line, but immediately latched on to Cavendish's wheel and did not let go until the finish as QuickStep-AlphaVinyl fought to make up ground. All the while, Demare was being guided to the line by his Groupama-FDJ team-mates, given an easier ride to the line. The sprint finish meant there were no major changes at the top of the general classification, in which Juan Pedro Lopez holds the leader's pink jersey.