There’s no change at the top of the GC standings despite that late crash, as it occurred in the final 3km of the race. But Tony Martin hit the tarmac hard and the yellow jersey rider is now a major doubt to take part in the rest of the Tour.
Etixx Quick-Step’s Zdenek Stybar won stage six with a sprint that followed a draining uphill slog to the line, while Daniel Teklehaimanot made history for Eritrea, and Africa, taking the polka jersey from Joaquim Rodriguez.
That’s all from another dramatic stage in the 2015 Tour de France. Stick around on the site for reports and reaction, and come along tomorrow for stage seven from Livarot to Fougères. Bye.
General classification
- Martin
- Froome +12secs
- Van Garderen +25
- Sagan +33
- Gallopin +38
Stage six result
- Zdenek Stybar
- Peter Sagan
- Bryan Coquard
- John Degenkolb
- Greg van Avermaet
It looked like Martin clipped a Europcar rider on his way to the finish, and in doing so also brought down Nibali and Quintana. Only Martin appeared to sustain major damage, and the way he came over the line did not look positive.
“I hope he’s alright,” says Mark Cavendish after the race. “At that speed it’s better to slide than to fall. I’m super happy for Stybie [Zdenek Stybar] though.”
Tony Martin is helped back up on to his saddle, left arm held against his chest as two riders from other teams guide him towards the line. The rules state that Martin will get the same time as the rest of the peloton having completed nearly the whole stage, so Martin will stay in yellow tomorrow – if he is fit enough to ride.
Zdenek Stybar wins stage six!
It’s a long run to the line from the top of the hill and Zdenek Stybar of Etixx QuickStep breaks clear of the pack – this was their plan all along. He’s goes for the stage victory with 200m to run and no-one can keep with him!
1km to go
Lotto come to the fore too as the peloton start this 9% climb to the finish. Greipel is nowhere to be seen as they chug away... and there’s a crash! Five or six riders are involved and Tony Martin is down on the road clutching his arm.
2km to go
They sweep him up and the chase is on to the line, Tony Martin up at the front with his Etixx QuickStep team and Cavendish close behind.
3km to go as Vanbilsen, the Belgian Cofidis rider, grits his teeth and looks back to see the unstoppable force of the chasing peloton around 10sec back.
Vanbilsen makes a dart for it! Attacking hard, he leaves his stage-six comrades Teklehaimanot and Quemeneur behind to be swept up by the peloton.
#TDF2015 15 kilometres to the finish. Less than a minute advantage for the three leaders.
— Lotto Soudal (@Lotto_Soudal) July 9, 2015
Less than 20km to go and the gap from the peloton to the leading three of Teklehaimanot, Quemeneur and Vanbilsen is 1min 3sec. The pace is still steady but expect things to ratchet up pretty soon. Movistar, Tinkoff-Saxo and BMC are all close to the front of the peloton with Contador well placed near the nose.
“Without wanting to make mischief,” mischiefs Nigel Smith, “surely ‘Kenyan-born Chris Froome’ has worn this jersey at some point...”
He certainly has worn the polka dots, but I’m not having Froome as anything but good ol’ British.
Lotto-Soudal and Giant-Alpecin continue to take charge at the head of the peloton, cutting the gap to our UN Truth and Reconciliation Commission down to 1min 4sec with 24km to go.
Teklehaimanot and Vanbilsen are having a little chat as they head towards the King of the Mountains marker. Teklehaimanot drives on and the others let him go, and the man from Eritrea will wear the famous polka dots tomorrow, the first rider from Africa to do so in the Tour de France. He gives a thumbs up to the camera before kicking on towards Le Havre.
“Hey Lawrence,” Brian Hudner emails. “We haven’t had the TdF breakaway name game yet this year, have we?”
We haven’t, and I’ve missed it Brian, I do hope you are about to kick us off...
“Teklehaimanot, Quemeneur, and Vanbilsen sound like a trio of UN officials sent to chair a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in a former conflict zone. Vanbilsen is a studious Dane with a facility for languages, Quemeneur is a terse French Canadian with a taste for classic cars, and Teklehaimanot is a former Finnish prime minister who raised some eyebrows in Helsinki earlier this year by leaving her husband of 30 years for a female Gender Studies lecturer.”
Lovely stuff.
#TdF2015 @DanielTeklehai1 gets it!!! Polka Dot Jersey tonight!!! 🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴
— Team MTN-Qhubeka (@TeamMTNQhubeka) July 9, 2015
Updated
With 32km to go the peloton has reached Côte du Tilleul, the final categorised climb in stage six before we get to Le Havre. Voeckler has filtered back into the peloton and the gap is 1min 40sec to the leading trio. The riders head through a fan-lined town, flags waving as the leaders pump their way up the start of this 5.6% climb.
In the meantime, Global Cycling Network have put together this nice little video which isn’t nearly as patronising as it sounds – how to pedal:
A BMC rider, I think it was Damiano Caruso, doesn’t have enough room to get round a tight-ish right hander and slides out from the side of the peloton into a straw bale. He goes over the handlebars but lands on the bale and that’s a lucky escape.
Thomas Voeckler has started a counterattack, breaking from the peloton; he is about a minute clear of the main pack and a minute short of the leading trio of Daniel Teklehaimanot, Perrig Quemeneur, and Kenneth Vanbilsen, who it should be remembered broke away around 5km out, a titanic effort.
“Afternoon Ostlere, afternoon everybody,” emails Josh Robinson. “Would you mind suggesting to Nye Cominetti that if he’s looking for a new ‘top’, he should keep that decision very separate from that as to which team he wants to support? With the arguable exception of those woolen Molteni Arcore, Brooklyn Chewing Gum or Peugeot jerseys from the 1970s, team kit is, as the Velominati will tell anyone who’s listening, for members of the team.”
Mark Cavendish didn’t fancy that sprint; we’ll see if he gets involved in what will be a very testing 9% gradient to the line at the end of this stage. Does he have something to prove, or do his 25 Tour stage victories answer any critics he may have?
I think if you are looking for a cause,” emails James West, “it is hard to beat MTN. Shame they changed their kits as they were much better last year. If you want a nice kit, it is hard to beat the IAM kit, in my opinion. Alternatively, Astana have a lovely turquoise kit and seem like a fairly ethical bunch....”
Daniel Teklehaimanot takes a backseat at the sprint point and Perrig Quemeneur and Kenneth Vanbilsen lead over the line in that order. Further down the road the peloton gets its sprint on for fourth and Peter Degenkolb, led out by Bryan Coquard, takes it ahead of Andre Greipel and Peter Sagan.
The three leaders are around 1km from the sprint point – they are going to get there first but only just, their lead cut right down to 1min 15sec.
My colleague in the US (we’re taking over the world!) Lanre Bakare has pointed me towards the very insightful Orica GreenEdge YouTube channel. Here is their team’s moving look at stage five:
Around 4km until the intermediate sprint point and it seems as though the first three places will go to our breakaway group, who remain 1min 54sec clear – though their lead is quickly reducing. Greipel, Sagan, Cavendish and others will hopefully be up for a little battle for the rest of the points.
Steve Johnson emails: “Re. Nye Cominetti’s request – My advice would be not to bother with ‘supporting a team’ too much. Just enjoy the racing for its own sake. You’ll get your own favourites that way anyway. One of the joys of cycling is that it isn’t too tribal. I speak as a very tribal football fan! Oh, and the MTN Qhubeka team kit is based on/inspired by the stripes of a zebra, which are designed to help confuse predators when they are in a large group. Info courtesy of ITV4’s Cycle Show last week.”
Only 10km until the intermediate sprint at Saint Léonard and the lead trio remain 2min 30sec clear of the peloton. At the front Ken Vanbilsen gets some magic spray from his team, namely a bit of water on his legs to keep his cool.
Jo Roberts gets in touch: “Nye Cominetti asks for a recommendation of a team to follow this season... I personally am still mourning the demise of Euskaltel Euskadi - a wonderfully gutsy team and also, for some reason, saying their name out loud always made me smile.....”
While things bubble away nicely before the intermediate sprint, here’s an onboard view of one of yesterday’s many pile-ups from Tinkoff-Saxo:
Updated
The peloton passes the rather impressive Chateau de Sassetot (pronounced on Eurosport as “sassy-tot”) as they continue south towards Le Havre (60km to go). The gap to the breakaway riders is down to 2min 49sec.
That gap to the breakaway group has been severely cut as Lotto get to the front and push the peloton forwards. They swoop through thick yellow cropfields into the small town of Sassetot-le-Mauconduit, where high walls line narrow streets. The sun has brought out lots of locals, too.
Nye Cominetti emails asking for a helping hand: “I was wondering if any readers might have thoughts on a team to support for this Tour. I thought it might be more fun watching with more than famous names and British riders to follow, and also I need a new cycling top. Are there any teams with particularly interesting background / riders? I listened to a podcast on the MTN Qhubeka team and I like the sound of them and their Eritrean support, so they’re front-runners at the moment… come on Teklehaimanot! Not sure about the referee kit though.”
They remind me of intense Gladiators referee, John Anderson.
The breakaway trio is made up of Daniel Teklehaimanot, a road race and time trial specialist from Eritrea, who rides for MTN-Qhubeka and started the 2015 Tour de France as the first rider out in the stage one time trial; Perrig Quemeneur, 31-year-old Frenchman riding for Europcar; and Kenneth Vanbilsen, the Belgian rider for Cofidis. The group are 4min 9sec clear of the peloton with 72km to go. We’ve less than 30km until the green jersey sprint at Saint-Léonard.
Still around two hours (83km) until the finish of stage six and the peloton is bobbing along at a steady pace in the sunshine. This is a much more pleasant day for the riders than what’s come before, though there are plenty of aches and pains to show for the first five days. If you fancy a more detailed look at the two-wheeled things under the riders you may have a read of this – but do come back.
The leading group have extending their gap slightly to almost 5mins. This breakaway has certainly got some staying power but the peloton doesn’t seem greatly concerned just now.
88km remain and the breakaway trio of Daniel Teklehaimanot, Perrig Quemeneur and Kenneth Vanbilsen remain 4min 30sec clear of the peloton. Still 40km until the next categorised climb in stage six.
Alejandro Valverde was spotted falling from his bike at low speed but Movistar’s directeur sportif, José Luis Arrieta, has cleared up matters. He told letour.com: “He stopped for a piss and slipped on the gravel when he went back on his bike. Fortunately, there’s no damage.”
Lotto Soudal’s (another team in the wars) Australian rider Adam Hansen was also on Twitter last night after a brutal day’s cycling:
This is the amount of tape I need to keep my collar bone in place. It reduces the pain a bit..... A bit.. pic.twitter.com/tM6hHoQ1rw
— Adam Hansen (@HansenAdam) July 9, 2015
Thanks 4 all the support on Twitter! Some say I was tough as nails today. Truth is I cried like a child at one point.. It cant get worse..
— Adam Hansen (@HansenAdam) July 7, 2015
Happy I survived 2day. Which is a great sign. But I also learnt the next 3weeks will B the hardest Grand Tour of them all. #Going2Hell&Back
— Adam Hansen (@HansenAdam) July 6, 2015
You have to feel for Orica GreenEdge who are down to just six riders after Michael Albasini could not start this morning. Michael Matthews, meanwhile, battles on:
UPDATE: Scan shows two small fractures but @blingmatthews cleared to continue @letour. More: http://t.co/T6yojpnvvL pic.twitter.com/7y0AIR3fx5
— ORICA-GreenEDGE (@ORICA_GreenEDGE) July 8, 2015
#TDF2015: Suffering 2 crashes today, scans have revealed Michael Albasini fractured his upper left arm. Sadly, he will not start tomorrow.
— ORICA-GreenEDGE (@ORICA_GreenEDGE) July 8, 2015
Making my point far more concisely, James Cavell emails: “Belgian TV, who usually have a fairly reliable inside line to the Etixx Quick Step HQ are reporting that the team are planning to play the Kwiatkoski and Stybar cards today, and not the Cavendish one.”
Michal Kwiatkowski could certainly be a threat come the end of stage six. His Etixx-QuickStep team move to the front of the peloton, Tony Martin’s yellow jersey in their midst, to kick things up a notch alongside Giant-Alpecin. The gap to the breakaway group has fallen futher to 4min 29sec.
Despite this stage being categorised as a sprint, the finish is a significant shift from yesterday’s climax. A 600m climb at 9% to the line will prevent a typical sprint for the usual contenders – which could play out of Cavendish’s hands. Riders like Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez and Tinkoff-Saxo’s Peter Sagan will be better suited to what is a testing route to the 50 green jersey points on offer.
The peloton is maintaining a steady pace on a flat section; the breakaway group (Daniel Teklehaimanot MTN, Perrig Quemeneur EUC and Kenneth Vanbilsen COF) are 4min 40sec clear with 103km remaining.
The two points that MTN–Qhubeka rider Teklehaimanot picked up there put him level with Joaquim Rodriguez at the head of the race to be crowned king of the mountains. There is an early point on offer in tomorrow’s stage which he might fancy a go at in order to be in polka dots by the weekend. 82km down, 109km to go and the breakaway trio are 5min 8sec ahead of the peloton. No major incidents to report so far today on a sunny day on the Normandy coastline. Lotto and Giant remain towards the front of the peloton, keen to protect their sprint interests of Greipel and Degenkolb respectively.
The sun is out and so are French racing fans, lining the top of the ascent as the breakaway riders fight it out once more for the one polka dot jersey point on offer. This time it’s a sprint worthy of the Champs-Elysees as Vanbilsen takes off for the line with Teklehaimanot on his tail. They’re side by side as they cross, Teklehaimanot taking it by half a wheel. The duo exchange a few words as they begin the roll back down, Vanbilsen perhaps frustrated after appearing to let his breakaway buddy have the first sprint. Quemeneur trundles along behind them like a child being dragged round a museum on holiday.
Teklehaimanot gets his sprint on to take the solitary polka dot jersey point on offer at the top of Côte de Dieppe as Vanbilsen wearily chases behind. They descend with Quemeneur and reach the foot of the next climb, Côte Pourville-sur-Mer, with a 4min 31sec lead over the peloton.
Regarding the peloton tactics interactive guide, Paula Moore emails: “Nice little graphics there … til I got to the last one. What’s he doing on there?!”
The lead trio, now just 5mins 40 secs ahead (at one stage earlier they were more than 12mins clear), reach the foot of Côte de Dieppe, a category four climb of around 1.8km.
“So after riding through the landscape infamous for its WW1 battles,” James Davison emails, “today the Tour is deep into post D-Day Normandy bocage country. As so much is still recognisable from what it was in 1944, will half expect the peloton to overtake a column of Jeeps and Shermans at some point.” And to make his point James has reminded me of this nice slideshow from Guardian interactive.
Updated
Standings before stage six
Yellow jersey
- Martin
- Froome +12sec
- Van Garderen +25
- Sagan +33
- Gallopin +38
8. Contador +48
13. Nibali +1min 50sec
17. Quintana +2.08
Green jersey
- Greipel 151 points
- Sagan 119
- Degenkolb 89
- Cavendish 86
- Martin 60
White jersey
- Sagan
- Barguil +46sec
- Quintana +1min 35sec
- Bardet +2.33
- Pinot 5.57
Updated
60km down, 130km to go and the peloton is working nicely to chip away at the lead of Teklehaimanot (MTN), Quemeneur (EUC) and Vanbilsen (COF), which is down to 6min 10sec and falling. By the way, if you’d like a look at a nice interactive guide to peloton tactics, here’s one we made earlier:
There are four categorised climbs today among the many ups and downs on route to Le Havre. The first two are not far away now and will come in quick succession: Côte de Dieppe and Côte de Pourville-sur-Mer are both 2km ascents at a 4% gradient.
#TDF2015 20 kilometres till the first climb of the day (Côte de Dieppe - 4th category, 1.8 km, average 4%).
— Lotto Soudal (@Lotto_Soudal) July 9, 2015
The riders are through 53km of stage six and the concerted effort to reel in the leaders is working, the gap now down to around 8mins. Here a few images from the stage so far:
The Giant-Alpecin team, who harbour hopes of a stage victory today for sprinter John Degenkolb, have joined Andre Greipel’s Lotto Soudal team at the front of the peloton as they head downhill, but they remain 11mins behind Teklehaimanot, Quemeneur and Vanbilsen.
The lead group are not hanging around: the trio had built up a staggering lead of more than 12 minutes – the biggest breakaway advantage of this year’s Tour to date – but they have been reeled in by a minute as Lotto-Soudal decide enough is enough and kick on at the front of the peloton.
So far today the riders are through nearly 40km of this 191.5km stage, and over a couple of early ascents Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN), Perrig Quemeneur (EUC) and Kenneth Vanbilsen (COF) have taken the opportunity to break away from the peloton.
Updated
The combativity award for the most aggressive rider yesterday went to Orica GreenEdge rider Michael Matthews:
My race number for today @letour something to put a smile on my face thanks #TDF for the award:) pic.twitter.com/s4cZUhCgRF
— michael matthews (@blingmatthews) July 9, 2015
Stage five claimed more casualties on a wet day in northern France. Nacer Bouhanni went to hospital with injuries sustained in a particularly nasty crash early in the day and joined Jack Bauer in abandoning the Tour. The medical list presented to journalists following the stage, normally containing four or five names, was a full sheet of A4. Take a look at photos from another dramatic day on the road.
Updated
Mark Cavendish following yesterday’s gruelling stage, in which he suffered a puncture in a collision after a police motorcyclist fell down:
Can imagine from an outside perspective, today's @letour stage seemed pretty tame. I bet most riders agree it was the most stressful yet.
— Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) July 8, 2015
Updated
Stage six: Abbeville to Le Havre (191.5km)
After stage five wound up in Amiens yesterday the Tour has shifted 50km north-west for the start of stage six, a trip from Abbeville in Picardy down the Normandy coastline to the busy port city of Le Havre. The brutality of this edition’s opening week continues: no relief awaits our embattled riders today save the rolling hills of the valleys that feed out to the Channel. Though only four ascents are classified, there are several short sharp climbs which, combined with a stiff crosswind, could split the peloton today.
Stage six is one of only seven potential sprint finishes in this year’s Tour so the quicks will be feeling the pressure. There hasn’t been a standout sprinter this season but one certainly has stood out in the opening week, André Greipel settling into the green jersey with victories in stage two and then yesterday, out-finishing his main rivals with an impressive burst to the line. The Lotto Soudal rider will be eyeing a third today but a frustrated Mark Cavendish will be eager to respond after falling short at the finish again. Nacer Bouhanni abandoned the Tour after a nasty stage five crash but fellow French fastmen Bryan Coquard and Arnaud Demare will fancy a go today, while Peter Sagan and the prolific Norwegian Alexander Kristoff are likely to be in the mix.
