15 May 2015

Henderson helps Greipel to stage win

10:05 am on 15 May 2015

The Dunedin cyclist Greg Henderson has positioned his Lotto-Soudal team-mate Andre Greipel perfectly to win the sixth stage of the Giro D'Italia.

Andre Greipel wins a stage in the 2014 Tour de France. Greipel dedicated the victory to team mate Greg Henderson.

Andre Greipel wins a stage in the Tour de France. Photo: PHOTOSPORT

At the end of the 183-kilometre stage in the Tuscan town of Castiglione Della Pescaiaon, Henderson promoted his principal rider to the front of the sprinting pack with 200 metres to go.

The German veteran did the rest, pumping hard to the line to maintain his record of winning at least one stage in every Giro he has ridden.

The end of the stage was marred by a pile up, which brought down the overall leader

Alberto Contador, who suffered a dislocated shoulder.

The Spaniard hit the deck during the mass sprint to the finish, but remounted his bike to roll over the line in the same time as Greipel.

Contador still leads by two seconds in the general classification, but struggled to pull on the Maglia Rosa at the presentation.

His Tinkoff-Saxo team said Contador, who also hurt his right knee, had a 30-minute medical examination following the conclusion of the stage, which included undergoing x-rays.

"I haven't broken anything but I have suffered a dislocation of the left shoulder," Contador said in a statement.

"The doctors have recommended that I immobilize my left arm during the evening and night, while I try to move it a bit with the help of my other arm to promote the movement of the shoulder.

"I will try to start tomorrow on stage seven, as I have worked very hard ahead of the Giro. I will try to continue until the very last moment. I'm optimistic about the start tomorrow, but we have to wait until right before the start to see what happens and how serious the effect of the crash is."

Friday's 264km seventh stage is the longest in this year's race.

Italy's Daniele Colli (Nippo-Vini Fantini) will not be continuing after his team confirmed he had broken his arm in the crash which took down a sizeable chunk of the peloton as it roared towards the finish line.

Contador's main rivals for victory all came through unscathed with Astana's Fabio Aru and Team Sky's Richie Porte avoiding any mishaps to stay in the hunt.