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excerpts from Le Tour
Rui Costa takes epic stage, Nibali moves into the lead
Stage 6 was set to be for attackers but very few actors expected them to be some of the most famous contenders. In a wet finale, Vincenzo Nibali showed his superiority in the front group formed with more than eighty kilometers to go. He took the lead over from Tejay van Garderen but missed out on his main goal, which was the stage victory as former world champion Rui Costa of Lampre-Merida overtook him in the last kilometer.
159 riders have taken the start of stage 6 with Tejay van Garderen (BMC) in the lead of the Dauphiné for the first time in his career. It was a very fast start with many riders trying to take advantage of the lumpy parcours, not only attackers down on GC but some of the biggest names in the race! Vincenzo Nibali and Andriy Grivko (Astana), Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Romain Bardet and JC Péraud (AG2R), Adam and Simon Yates (Orica), Tony Gallopin and Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), Jonathan Castroviejo, Gorka Izagirre and Rory Sutherland (Movistar), Alberto Losada (Katusha), Tejay van Garderen and Rohan Dennis (BMC), Julian Alapahilippe (Etixx), Rui Costa (Lampre), Cyril Gautier (Europcar) and Stephen Cummings (MTN) rode away at km 30 and forced Team Sky to chase hard. Ten riders – but not the most famous of them – kept going until the peloton reeled them in at km 51.
Martin and Nibali: two top champions attacking from far out
Attacks went on and on. Tony Martin (Etixx-Quick Step) and Nibali successively rode away solo. The 2014 Tour de France champion was alone at the front for almost twenty kilometers after the col de Grimone (km 75). At km 100, following another lone escape by Tony Martin, five riders gathered at the front: Nibali, Rui Costa, T. Martin, Gallopin and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar). They got an advantage of 3.30 over the yellow-blue group after passing the col du Rousset where Nibali did all the work in the front group.
Rui Costa: the man of the perfect timing
The riders had to face the pouring rain in the last hour of racing but it didn’t diminish the motivation of Nibali and co. Gallopin and Martin made their way back to the front in the downhill of col du Rousset but Martin, the only rider who wasn’t taking any turn at the front, got dropped with 22km to go. Gallopin tried his luck 4.5km before the end but Nibali reacted and rode away solo with 1.4km to go. Only 300 metres before the line, Costa managed to come across. The Portuguese claimed his first ever stage victory at the Dauphiné while the Italian moved into the lead with two stages remaining.
Stage 6 Results POR 1 FARIA DA COSTA, Rui Alberto (LAMPRE – MERIDA) 4:29:23 ITA 2 NIBALI, Vincenzo (ASTANA) + 5 ESP 3 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 38 FRA 4 GALLOPIN, Tony (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 39 GBR 5 YATES, Simon (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 1:24 IRL 6 MARTIN, Daniel (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 1:46 FRA 7 GADRET, John (MOVISTAR) + 1:48 BEL 8 BENOOT, Tiesj (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 1:59 GBR 9 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) + 2:12 ESP 10 INTXAUSTI ELORRIAGA, Benat (MOVISTAR) USA 11 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) + 2:14 CRO 12 KISERLOVSKI, Robert (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 2:25 NED 13 KELDERMAN, Wilco (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) + 2:31 USA 14 TALANSKY, Andrew (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) ESP 15 VALLS FERRI, Rafael (LAMPRE – MERIDA) ESP 16 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (KATUSHA) FRA 17 BARDET, Romain (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 2:42 ESP 18 DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO, David (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 2:55 FRA 19 COURTEILLE, Arnaud (FDJ) + 3:09 ESP 20 CASTROVIEJO NICOLAS, Jonathan (MOVISTAR) ESP 21 IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Gorka (MOVISTAR) + 3:19 ESP 22 PLAZA MOLINA, Ruben (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 3:37 ESP 23 NAVARRO GARCIA, Daniel (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) BEL 24 DE CLERCQ, Bart (LOTTO SOUDAL) GBR 25 YATES, Adam (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 5:23
General Classification after Stage 6 ITA 1 NIBALI, Vincenzo (ASTANA) 22:34:17 POR 2 FARIA DA COSTA, Rui Alberto (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 29 ESP 3 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 30 GBR 4 YATES, Simon (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 35 USA 5 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) + 42 ESP 6 INTXAUSTI ELORRIAGA, Benat (MOVISTAR) + 57 GBR 7 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) + 1:21 FRA 8 GALLOPIN, Tony (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 1:29 FRA 9 BARDET, Romain (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 1:30 IRL 10 MARTIN, Daniel (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) USA 11 TALANSKY, Andrew (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 2:07 ESP 12 VALLS FERRI, Rafael (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 2:42 ESP 13 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (KATUSHA) + 2:45 NED 14 KELDERMAN, Wilco (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) + 3:05 ESP 15 DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO, David (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 3:13 CRO 16 KISERLOVSKI, Robert (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 3:28 BEL 17 DE CLERCQ, Bart (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 3:59 ESP 18 NAVARRO GARCIA, Daniel (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 5:44 FRA 19 GADRET, John (MOVISTAR) + 5:48 ESP 20 PLAZA MOLINA, Ruben (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 6:56
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