photo credits @ ASO
An outstanding team effort from Deceuninck-QuickStep saw Mark Cavendish roar to a 32nd career win on the Tour de France with victory in stage 6 today.
The Cavendish’s third successive victory in the city of Châteauroux, a decade after the second , saw the British rider strengthen his grip on the green jersey. Jasper Philipsen and Nacer Bouhanni completed the podium as Mathieu van der Poel kept the yellow jersey
Benefitting from a textbook leadout from his Deceuninck-QuickStep train, Cavendish powered past Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) on the home straight and kept Nacer Bouhanni (Arkea-Samsic) at bay to seize the stage honors.
Meanwhile, Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) and Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) completed the top five ahead of Cees Bol (Team DSM), Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) and Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo).
Successive sprint victories sees Cavendish extend his lead over Philipsen in the green jersey standings to 46 points, with Bouhanni three points back in third. Philipsen’s teammate van der Poel retained the yellow jersey after a GC stalemate following the shake-up witnessed from Wednesday’s time trial.
The Dutch debutant still leads defending champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) by eight seconds in GC, with Van Aert third at 30 seconds, as the race hits the hills of the Morvan range on Friday ahead of a weekend in the Alps.
A lively start to the stage saw a high pace set, with Greg van Avermaet and Roger Kluge eventually riding clear of the peloton.
From there, the duo stayed away for over 100 kilometers, but were later swallowed up by the peloton as the finish in Chateauroux loomed, with Cavendish ultimately being delivered to victory.
Friday’s stage 7 from Vierzon to Le Creusot offers a chance for the break to stay away, with some lumpy climbs in the final third of the stage playing into the hands of the all-rounders.
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