Watson powers to third in Dunkirk

Sam Watson powered to third place on the second stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk in a sprint finish as Ben Swift continues his GC battle in third overall.

A gritty 178km stage saw Watson perfectly delivered into the home straight by Swift to sprint to the podium in Crépy-en-Valois behind winner Lewis Askey (Groupama - FDJ).

Finishing on the same time, Swift is still in contention for the GC with three stages remaining, sitting two seconds behind leader and yesterday’s stage winner Axel Zingle (Visma-Lease A Bike).

At the 54km mark, Connor Swift and Bob Jungels slipped in a bend, which saw Swift abandon race for precautionary reasons.

Over in Italy, an exciting start for the Grenadiers on the sixth stage of the Giro d’Italia was short-lived as a crash marred the race to Napoli.

The punchy 227km stage saw Josh Tarling kick off proceedings, attacking straight from the flag drop. Teammate and vlogging partner Ben Turner counterattacked as Tarling was drawn back in, escaping in a break of five.

Lucas Hamilton and Tarling went again soon after in a bid to bridge the gap, and held 30 seconds between the groups, but the peloton picked up the pace to catch both breaks.

Hamilton attempted another move through the first intermediate sprint of the day, before the Australian rolled back to the peloton with 176km remaining.

As the rain came down, with 70km to go, a big crash meant the race was neutralised, with the Grenadiers unscathed.

As no points or bonus seconds were awarded at the finish, and the classifications set at the moment of the crash, the Grenadiers decided not to contest the stage victory and rolled in safely in a reduced bunch.