Pogacar wins the Tirreno-Adriatico as Bahrain - Victorious rider Bauhaus claims sprint finish on Stage 7

A “dog’s breakfast” of a sprint finish in which “the favourite’s teams all got it wrong” was won with a delayed but daring dart for the line by Phil Bauhaus of Bahrain Victorious. Though the last hundred metres of Tirreno-Adriatico’s final stage looked chaotic on camera, everyone stayed upright, and all the riders made it home safely.

The circuit of San Benedetto del Tronto had promised neither a true Grand Tour-style processional finish, nor a full-blooded battle to the line either. With the General Classification, King of the Mountains, Points and Young Rider competitions all but sewn up — with three of them led by a certain T.

Pogacar — and little chance of there being any changes elsewhere in the order, it was only the stage to play for. Plenty of teams — foremost among them QuickStep AlphaVinyl — had little to show for the first six stages and the pan-flat finished offered them their final chance.

Ad/> A number of sprinters having abandoned earlier in the race, including Caleb Ewan and Elia Vivian, Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché — Wanty — Gobert Matériaux) named stage 3’s victor, Tim Merlier as the rider to beat, as well as Mark Cavendish (QuickStep AlphaVinyl), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Israel PremierTech). Olav Kooij (Jumbo Visma), with two top three places to his name, also had hopes of finishing the race on the highest of highs.

Cavendish was hoping to poach a win in order to keep up with team-mate Fabio Jakobsen in the race for a Tour de France spot. Tirreno — Adriatico'Just incredible' — Pogacar rips into rivals, soars to solo victory on Stage 6 of Tirreno-AdriaticoA DAY AGO The first 80km of the stage offered up a few lumps and bumps of interest, before five 14.5km inner laps of