page_title: 2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11
section_title: Stage 6
hierarchical_section_title: 2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11 / Stage 6
caption_attribution_description: Español: Perfil de la 6.ª etapa del Giro de Italia 2015
context_page_description: The 2015 Giro d'Italia began on 9 May, and stage 11 occurred on 20 May. The race began with a team time trial from San Lorenzo al Mare to Sanremo.
context_section_description: 14 May 2015 — Montecatini Terme to Castiglione della Pescaia, 183 km (113.7 mi)
  After three successive tough stages, the race headed from Montecatini Terme to Castiglione della Pescaia in a day for the sprinters. The stage was mostly flat except for the middle sector where the short fourth category climb of Pomarance was found. The middle sector was undulating, featuring short climbs, before the riders tackled a long descent and a final flat stretch to the finish.
  Two breakaways were formed at different times. The first riders to attack were CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice's Marek Rutkiewicz and Nippo–Vini Fantini's Eduard Grosu, attacking after 2 kilometers had passed before Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec's Marco Bandiera, Nippo–Vini Fantini's Alessandro Malaguti and Cannondale–Garmin's Alan Marangoni joined them after 20 kilometers. Tinkoff–Saxo had hoped the someone in the break could take Alberto Contador's pink jersey but the sprinters' teams, namely Lotto–Soudal, IAM Cycling, Trek Factory Racing and Team Giant–Alpecin, worked hard to keep the break under control. The breakaway's lead maxed at around five minutes before it started to go down to around three minutes at the final intermediate sprint. At this point, news of headwinds and side winds broke out and as a result of the winds, the breakaway's lead quickly went down and with 14 kilometers left in the stage, all riders were together again.
  Soon, the teams of the GC contenders, namely Tinkoff–Saxo, Astana and Team Sky, worked at the front to keep their team leaders out of trouble. As the peloton passed the 3-kilometer banner, the sprinters' teams went at the front to build their lead-out trains. In the finishing sprint, a crash took down several riders, including Contador. The crash was caused by Italy's Daniele Colli colliding with a spectator's camera lens, causing Colli to suffer a broken arm. As the chaos scattered behind, Greg Henderson perfectly led out André Greipel as Greipel took the stage win, his third at the Giro. With the win, Greipel took the red jersey to lead the points classification. With the crash happening inside the final 3 kilometers, the GC remained unchanged but Contador's challenge for the Giro was put in doubt after X-rays discovered that Contador dislocated his left shoulder in the crash. His injury prevented him from putting on the pink jersey during the podium presentations. Nonetheless, Contador stated that he would try to continue riding the Giro despite the injury.
caption: Stage 6 profile
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