Cavendish Wins Stage 6 in Second Photo Finish

Cavendish Wins Stage 6 in Second Photo Finish

Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) won his third 2016 Tour de France stage today in a photo finish over Marcel Kittel (Etixx - QuickStep) and Dan McLay (Lotto-Soudal) in Montauban. This is Cavendish’s 29th Stage win. He passes Bernard Hinault who finished his professional career with 28 Stage victories. Very few sprinters have had as long a Tour career as Cavendish. Cavendish’s first Tour Stage victory was in 2008. Most sprinters peak and fade within a few years Cavendish is now leading in the Point Competition, taking the Green Jersey from Peter Sagan. There is speculation that Cavendish may abandon the Tour to concentrate on training for the upcoming Rio Olympics. Greg Van Avermaet held onto the Yellow Jersey. But the Pyrenees mountain stages start tomorrow and the General Classification cyclists will more to the forefront of the Tour.
Today's stage was a 190.5 km (118.7 mile) sprinter’s stage going from Arpajon-sur-Cère to Montauban with two Category 3 climbs and one Category 4 climb on the middle of the route and a flat run into Montauban. The Pyrenees are coming this weekend, so this stage will be the last stage for the sprinters to shine for a few days. It was a warm day in south central France with the temperatures around 27C (81 F). And once again, all 198 riders are starting the stage today. No rider has dropped out of the race. Another data point from the race organizers, ASO; the five minute lead of Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) is the largest at Stage 6 since 1949 when Jacques Marinelli had a lead of nearly 15 minutes.
The two man breakaway formed nearly from the start of the stage. Jan Barta (Bora - Aragon 18) and Yukiya Arashiro (Lampre - Merida). The two riders built up a 4 minute 25 second lead. The sprinters teams; Dimension Data, Etixx-QuickStep and Lotto-Soudal are watching the gap for Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel and Andre Greipel respectively. Daniel Teklehaimanot of Dimension Data led the peloton for some stretches, Direct Energie, led by Thomas Voeckler is taking the majority of the turns up front. Voeckler’s effort helped his teammate, Bryan Coquard. The gap to the breakaway group was slowly reduced from 2 minutes with 70 km to go in the stage until they were caught at 20 km. The peloton was not going to have a breakaway group succeed today. In the last kilometer, a number of teams raced down the street shoulder to shoulder in the slight downhill. Cavendish beat Kittel in a side by side sprint at the line. The complaints about the final kilometers of sprinter’s stages is beginning to build. In today’s stage, the finish was slightly downhill, along with corners and narrow roads. It has been rare to see sprinter teams line up their leadout trains for the final sprint in this year's Tour.

Stage Results

1
Mark Cavendish
Dimension Data
4:43:48
2
Marcel Kittel  
Etixx - Quick-Step

3
Daniel Mclay
Fortuneo - Vital Concept

4
Alexander Kristoff
Team Katusha

5
Christophe Laporte
Cofidis, Solutions Credits

6
Peter Sagan
Tinkoff Team

7
Dylan Groenewegen
Team LottoNl-Jumbo

8
Edward Theuns
Trek-Segafredo

9
Bryan Coquard
Direct Energie

10
Shane Archbold
Bora-Argon 18

Overall Standings

1
Greg Van Avermaet
BMC Racing Team
30:18:38
2
Julian Alaphilippe
Etixx - Quick-Step
0:05:11
3
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
0:05:13
4
Joaquim Rodriguez
Team Katusha
0:05:15
5
Christopher Froome
Team Sky
0:05:17
6
Warren Barguil
Team Giant-Alpecin

7
Nairo Quintana
Movistar Team

8
Pierre Rolland
Cannondale-Drapac

9
Fabio Aru
Astana Pro Team

10
Daniel Martin
Etixx - Quick-Step




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