French rider Arnaud Demare made history for his nation after winning the sixth stage of the 2022 Giro d'Italia after a photo finish on Thursday.
Coming off the back of his victory in Wednesday's stage from Catania to Messina, Demare found himself in a three-way fight with Mark Cavendish and Caleb Ewan in a sprint finish in stage six.
The highly-anticipated battle between Cavendish and Ewan saw the former fade away with metres remaining, as Demare used the slipstream to move across and win by a whisker.
A steady opening to the stage soon exploded into life when Diego Rosa charged to the front of the pack, with the peloton making no effort to reduce the four-minute deficit for a long while.
Mathieu van der Poel and his Alpecin-Felix teammates were nowhere to be seen approaching the final straight, as Demare, Cavendish and Ewan broke away and were all hesitant to celebrate after crossing the line.
The Groupama - FDJ rider edged it by the narrowest of margins in 5:02.33 with a late lunge to win his seventh stage at the Giro d'Italia - no Frenchman has ever won more at the Grand Tour event.
Cavendish slapped his knee as he was forced to settle for third, with Biniam Girmay close behind in fourth and Juan Pedro Lopez still donning the maglia rosa.
