photo credits @ Le Tour
Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) continued his winning ways, after claiming stage 6 of the Tour de France today, marking the Manx Missile’s third stage victory in this year’s French Grand Tour.
The British rider once again brought the curtains down on his rivals in a hotly contested sprint to the finish, after fending off challenges from Marcel Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep) and Dan McLay (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) to seize the stage honors in Montauban.
Race Highlights
Today’s 190.5 kilometer stage from Arpajon-du-Cére was a relatively sedate affair, with the peloton happy to let the duo of Yukiya Arashiro (Lampre-Merida) and Jan Barta (Bora-Argon 18) ride clear early on in the stage.
From there, the two escapees went on to establish a maximum advantage of just under six minutes over the peloton.
However, as the finish started to draw nearer, their gap began to diminish rapidly.
Indeed, with 29 kilometers to go, Arashiro and Barta were clinging to just a handful seconds over the peloton. And, once they reached the final 6 kilometers, both riders were caught.
Heading into the final kilometers, the customary jostling for positions got underway, with teams working in earnest to move their respective sprinters into place to contest the finale – with Cavendish ultimately emerging as the victor.
Meanwhile, Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) finished safely in the main field to retain his hold on the overall race lead – heading into tomorrow’s hilly stage which will see plenty of elevation gain in the Pyrenees.
Top 10 Finishers
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 4:43:48 2 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Etixx – Quick-Step 3 Daniel Mclay (GBr) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 4 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Team Katusha 5 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 6 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff Team 7 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 8 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 9 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Direct Energie 10 Shane Archbold (NZl) Bora-Argon 18
General classification after stage 6
1 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 30:18:39 2 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:05:11 3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:05:13 4 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:05:17 5 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin 6 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 7 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale-Drapac 8 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 9 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx – Quick-Step 10 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
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