Giro d'Italia Stage 6: Andre Greipel wins sprint, worries for Tinkoff Saxo as Alberto Contador hurt in crash

German champion André Greipel of Lotto Soudal has won Stage 6 of the Giro d'Italia in Castiglione di Pescaia this afternoon, but race leader Alberto Contador could be out after a big crash around 300 metres from the line.

The Tinkoff-Saxo rider, who took over the maglia rosa yesterday, remounted his bike afterwards, but seemed unable to move his left arm when he was presented with the maglia rosa on the podium following the stage, and made no attempt to put it on.

With the crash happening within the final 3 kilometres no-one loses time, but the worry for the Tinkoff-Saxo camp and for Contador's fans will be how serious the injury is, whether he can start tomorrow's stage - at 264km, the longest of the race - and if so how it will affect his racing.

Team officials speaking to Eurosport tried to play down the extent of his injuries, but their concern was obvious and they will anxiously await the results of x-rays and medical examinations that he will undergo this evening.

Tinkoff-Saxo team manager Sandro Feltrin said: "We are assessing the nature of Alberto's injuries with the team doctor. In the meantime, he is being treated with ice as a precaution.

"We will need to reassess his condition in the morning."

One rider defnitely out is Daniele Colli of Nippo-Vini Fantini, who could be seen on TV pictures sitting on the ground with his arm twisted round at an unnatural angle - you might want to skip the picture below if you're susceptible to feeling queasy.

#Giro2015 pic.twitter.com/cFGQQgs60N

— Christophe Moreau (@ChrisMoreau90) May 14, 2015

The crash was an unfortunate conclusion to the stage, and seemed to have been caused by a rider colliding with a camera lens - this at a point of the finish area where it would almost certainly be a fan wielding it, rather than a photographer accredited to the race.

Following the short but punchy stages tackled in recent days, today’s from Montecatini Terme was longer at 183km, and while there was plenty of climbing in the middle part of the stage, the final 20km were flat, giving a rare opportunity in this year’s race for the sprinters.

But once the road levelled out, it was crosswinds that threatened to cause problems, leading Contador’s Tinkoff-Saxo team to bring him up to the front and try and keep him out of trouble - in vain, as it turned out - after the day’s break was caught with around 13km remaining.

Also close to the front was Team Sky’s Elia Viviani, winner of Stage 2 in Genoa and wearing the red points jersey, and former world champion Tom Boonen of Ettix-Quick Step, riding the Giro d’Italia for the first time.

But it was Greipel's Lotto-Soudal team that rode strongest in the closing kilometres, the German getting a strong leadout from Greg Henderson to take the third Giro stage of his career ahead of Matteo Pelucchi of IAM Cycling, and Lampre-Merida's Sacha Modolo.

The stage winner said afterwards: "It wasn't easy for me after the hard start to the Giro, but this is what we were here for, to win a stage.

"I have to say thanks to my team. Sander Armée spent all day at the front. We said before the stage that we would have to keep close to the front on the final bends.

"Adam Hansen hit the front with 1.1km to go and really went for it. Then Greg Henderson took over from a long way out, with 600m to go. It's normally too far, but he kept it up, and we are very happy with this win."