- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Stage six of the 2015 Tour de France, looked like one that was finally going to be incident free so we could focus on the racing but the yellow jersey went down in the final km heading uphill.
Meanwhile Zdenek Stybar (Etixx – Quickstep) raced away to win the stage from a bunch of favourites who seemed to sit around and look at each other in a crazy last km of the stage.
For most of the day though, it was a four man breakaway that controlled proceedings. The riders that made it into the move which rode away after just 5km of racing were Perrig Quémeneur (Europcar) Kenneth Van Bilsen (Cofidis) and Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN-Qhubeka).They gained a maximum of about 12 minutes on the peloton before the bunch reacted and began to pull back the breakaway.
For Teklehaimanot he had one clear goal and that was to take ownership of the King of the Mountains jersey, which he managed to do going over the top of all three climbs on course in first place and being challenged for all of them.
However, when the breakaway riders got to the intermediate sprint, about 15km away from the final climb it looked as if they wouldn’t even make the final climb, the peloton coming inside of 1:30 behind.
At the intermediate sprint it was John Degenkolb (Giant – Alpecin) who took the most points out of the Green Jersey contenders ahead of Bryan Coquard (Europcar) and Andre Greipel (Lotto – Soudal)
Directly following the intermediate sprint it was Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) who made a move away from the peloton. Despite bridging about half of the gap to the men in the lead, he could get no further and despite the peloton losing time on the front group of riders drifting back out to almost 2 minutes Voeckler was swept back up by the peloton about 5km from the base of the final climb.
All in all the stage was ridden quite slowly, as the riders finished about 16 minutes behind the slowest schedule set by the race organisation.
After the final climb it appeared that with the peloton increasing the pace the breakaway would drop back, however Kenneth Van Bilsen was able to place an attack of his own with about 12km to go and neither of his breakaway companions were able to respond meaning he was the last man caught with around 5km to go.
With the final climb starting 1.4km out from the line the battle for positions in the peloton was intense. With yellow jersey Tony Martin (Etixx – Quickstep) gradually drifting back down the peloton he suddenly touched wheels and crashed bringing Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) down with him. Whilst Nibali was able to ride onto the line, it appeared Martin may have suffered a major injury riding to the line with one hand and three team mates assisting him.
Meanwhile the front of the peloton continued up to the line and Stybar took a dig for the line from around 600 metres out. He gained a significant advantage and many of the favourites behind him including Peter Sagan (Tinkoff Saxo), Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Bryan Coquard (Europcar) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) sat and looked at each other as if to say who is going to chase.
In the end it was Rodriguez and Sagan who began the sprint from behind as they crested the hill, however no one was catching Stybar who rode away to victory in a very mixed day for Etixx – Qiuckstep. Sagan managed to come in second and Coquard picked up a third place finish but they will both be disappointed.
The biggest question now is whether Tony Martin will resume the race tomorrow. Find out as The Roar brings you live coverage of stage seven in the Tour de France.
Will the Tour of Carnage continue when the 2015 Tour de France resumes tonight with a flat Stage 6 which stretches 191.5km from Abbeville to Le Havre? Find out as The Roar brings you live coverage of the stage from 10pm (AEST).
More crashes marred the race on Stage 5 and that has been the common trend so far, with the race neutralised due to crashes on Stage 3. All the riders have been nervous and edgy, with the speed staying high not allowing a breakaway to go clear and some inclement weather has seen many crashes. Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) was the latest casualty to exit the race yesterday.
Stage 5 might have been won by Andre Greipel (Lotto – Soudal), his second for the race, but it is highly doubtful he will be able to add to that tally on Stage 6.
Today’s stage has a very undulating route with three category four climbs. The finale of the stage meanwhile comes off a ramp uphill which should rule out the pure sprinters, especially with a likely very high pace in the peloton, which will be set by some very nervous teams of General Classification riders.
The categorised climbs are nothing that will cause any riders to be dropped from the peloton, however with Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) currently leading the classification on two points, there is a chance of the King of the Mountains classification changing. With one point on offer for each climb, there are three total points for the stage today, meaning a breakaway will be highly fought after at the beginning of the stage.
The climbs on route come after 72km, 77.5km and 162km respectively.
The intermediate sprint meanwhile comes after 145.5km and will be hotly contested as the race for the green jersey, lead by Andre Greipel, heats up. However, coming just after an uphill rise it could be expected that it will not be a pure sprinter who takes maximum points. With the finish coming only about 46km later, some riders may also choose to reserve energy for that.
Before the finish, with 1.4km to go the road ramps uphill for 900 metres with an average gradient of 7 per cent. The gradient gets particularly steep as the riders enter the last kilometre and this should be enough to rule out the pure sprinters. The last 500 metres however are flat and therefore whoever gets over the uncategorised climb will be able to take the stage.
The riders will also have to be careful of crosswinds, as the roads are completely exposed to the ocean in the last 10 kilometres.
So who are the favourites for today’s stage? You can’t go past Peter Sagan (Tinkoff – Saxo), however for mine he will have a job protecting team leader Alberto Contador. This will create a massive problem in him going for the stage and opens the field for others.
I doubt the likes of Mark Cavendish (Etixx – Quickstep) will be able to get over the climb, and his team will also be keen to protect Tony Martin’s yellow jersey. Andre Greipel will be another to fall off whilst Arnaud Demare (FDJ) and Bryan Coquard (Europcar) should also find the going too tough.
Apart from Sagan, the riders we should be looking at are the likes of Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN) and John Degenkolb (Giant – Alpecin). Another could be Michael Matthews (Orica) but he still appears to be struggling with injury from the crash he had on Stage 3.
Prediction: In what is a hard stage to tip, I will go with John Degenkolb to take out the win. He is fully committed to ride for himself and is the team’s leader, unlike Greg Van Avermaet who otherwise would have been my tip.
Join The Roar for live coverage of Stage 6 in the 2015 Tour de France from 10pm (AEST) and don’t forget to leave a comment if you’re following along with the action.