Giro d'Italia: Tom Dumoulin extends lead as Tim Wellens wins stage six

Tom Dumoulin issued a major statement of intent to his Giro d’Italia rivals by extending his overall lead on a mountainous sixth stage won by breakaway rider Tim Wellens.

Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) attacked out of a reduced peloton with about 3.3km of the climb to the summit finish at Roccaraso remaining and crossed the line in fourth place, 14 seconds ahead of Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and 21 seconds ahead of both Mikel Landa (Team Sky) and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana).

Dumoulin continues to insist he is not challenging for overall victory, but the aggression and comfort with which he rode away from the other favourites suggested he is a genuine contender to win the pink jersey.

His closest challengers in the general classification are now Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha), who are 26 and 28 seconds back respectively after finishing second and third on the day.

Valverde is 41 seconds down in sixth, Nibali - who failed with an attack just before Dumoulin's - falls to 47 seconds adrift in ninth and Landa is 1min 8sec seconds back in 15th.

Dumoulin told Eurosport: "I feel quite good. I felt much better than I expected today, especially in the final. I had some good legs. 

"Vincenzo Nibali attacked at a bad moment, Sky brought him back, and then I saw the moment to attack. When you see that moment, you just have to go and don't think about it.

"I'm happy [with the time gained]. It was unexpected, but I'm happy."

Wellens (Lotto Soudal) joined a five-man breakaway early in the day but then moved into a solo lead with an attack 15km from the finish and hung on to claim the first grand tour stage win of his career by 1min 19sec.

He said: "I had really good legs and it was going so good - too good to be true. My other victories were very nice, but I had a lot of pressure because I said before the Giro that my objective was to win a stage, and I'm happy I did it."

The Giro continues on Friday with a 211km rolling seventh stage from Sulmona to Foligno.

Stage six result

1 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal, 4:40:05

2 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, +1:19

3 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha, same time

4 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, +1:22

5 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Dimension Data, +1:24

6 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale, st

7 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge, +1:29

8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale, +1:33

9 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff, st

10 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +1:36

General classification

1 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, 24:22:15

2 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, +26sec

3 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha, +28

4 Bob Jungels (Lux) Etixx - Quick-Step, +35

5 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, +38

6 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +41

7 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida, same time

8 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge, +44

9 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, +47