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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Lawrence Ostlere

Tour de France 2016: Mark Cavendish powers to stage six win – as it happened

Mark Cavendish reaches for the finish line and takes the victory – again.
Mark Cavendish reaches for the finish line and takes the victory – again. Photograph: Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters

Well that was fun, in the end. The Tour returns to the mountains tomorrow and the Col d’Aspin awaits. That’s all from me, thanks for reading. You can catch up with all the action from stage six with our report:

Confirmation that Cavendish will wear green tomorrow. The sprint standings after stage six:

Mark Cavendish 204 points
Marcel Kittel 182
Peter Sagan 175

Behind Mark Cavendish’s achievements, Dan McLay won’t make many headlines but he deserves enormous credit for his third-placed finish there.

Dan McLay, left is beaten to the win by Mark Cavendish.
Dan McLay, left is beaten to the win by Mark Cavendish. Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP

Updated

Greg Van Avermaet celebrates another day in the yellow jersey. He had a very quiet day which will suit him nicely. The GC standings:

A fed-up Marcel Kittel: “There is no tactics. It’s impossible to ride with a team like this. I don’t know why the organisers do it like this. It goes wide, narrow, wide again. It’s just pure chaos. You can win here with smart positioning.”

'It was just carnage'

Mark Cavendish speaks: “That was terrifying. I said there’s two finish lines coming in. I was a little too far back into the first. It was just carnage in the final section. I wanted Kittel’s wheel, I kept looking for his wheel. I knew that [Kittel’s team] QuickStep would get it right on the final part. I knew it would be right to go early because it’s slightly downhill. I just went, I really wanted it. I felt Kittel coming on my side again [at the end] and just did to him what he’s done to me the last three years.”

There have been closer this week but not by much:

Four hours of pretty tepid racing is forgiven. What a stunning finish.

Mark Cavendish moves ahead of Bernard Hinault to become second outright in the list of all-time Tour de France stage wins with 29, now only five short of Eddy Merckx.

And what a finish by Dan McLay, the future of British sprinting who fired through at the last and just ran out of road, eventually finishing third.

Mark Cavendish wins stage six!

It’s Kittel out in front, it must be his... But from nowhere Cav powers through the scattered leaders! He reels in Kittel and takes his third stage of this Tour. Brilliant.

1km remaining: Kittel hits the front, his leadout train are nowhere to be seen. Peter Sagan there too, and Greipel follows him. It’s anyone’s race in a bunch sprint...

2km remaining: Alexander Kristoff bursts through the pack behind his Katusha team... and here comes Dimension Data and Cavendish!

3km remaining: Kittel’s Etixx team have been quiet but now they come to the fore. So too do Tinkoff who hit the front.

4km remaining: The country road swings right as the peloton approaches Montauban as one. They cross a busy highway and turn on to a narrow street which thins out the pack a little. “Got to be Cav,” predicts Andrew Benton. “He’ll be retiring once the real mountains start, and this is his last chance to go ahead of Hinault in the wins rankings.”

A flash of yellow pokes through the pack of Team Sky riders near the front. Greg Van Avermaet will be pleased with such a low-key day and will be wearing the yellow jersey again tomorrow.

There are 50 sprint points on offer for the winner of the stage. A reminder of the green jersey standings:

Peter Sagan 161 points
Mark Cavendish 154
Marcel Kittel 152

The pace continues to kick on courtesy of the French team, Chavanel directing matters. Will Coquard benefit from this tactic? Matthew Lysaght thinks so:

10km remaining: Direct Energie continue to take the lead as all 198 riders head towards Montauban together, flanked by BMC to the right and several Team Sky riders to the left.

Updated

Direct Energie’s Sylvain Chavanel is given the international hand signal for ‘calm down’ by a BMC rider, who isn’t happy with the high pace Bryan Coquard’s team have set.

Prediction time. I fancy André Greipel. Any offers?

This shows just how much Direct Energie have pulled at the front of the peloton in the past 30km:

The peloton has eased right off the gas as they near the finale of this stage. They split around another roundabout without incident. 14km to go.

Tommy Voeckler’s work is done on the nose, and he moves off to the back of the pack.

Roundabouts are provoking a bit of caution in the pack as they approach the final 15km of this stage. Tour de France japes:

20km remaining: Direct Energie (leading Bryan Coquard to the bunch sprint) are on the front of the peloton, with Tinkoff (Sagan), Etixx (Kittel), Dimension (Cavendish) and Lotto (Greipel) all jostling for a spot near the front.

Apparently Arashiro and Barta have been attacking each other, which is probably not helping their cause. A woman draped in a French flag on a horse is keeping up with the front of the peloton with a gallop on the side of the road, which is impressive. As she drifts away the peloton tag on to the back of the breakaway. Finally, around four hours after making a dash for it, Jan Barta and Yukiya Arashiro are caught. You’ve served us well, chaps.

25km remaining: The peloton have the breakaway riders clearly in their sights now, 20sec up the road. Team Sky have hit the front as Direct Energie look to conserve, erm, energy.

The peloton power through the picturesque Montricoux. Direct Energie are the team taking the lead at the front as they look to setup Bryan Coquard for the sprint, and at the same time drain some energy from the legs of Cavendish and co.

The gap between peloton and breakaway is down to around 30sec. Thomas De Gendt is living up to his name:

30km remaining: So as we near the climax of stage six, Jan Barta and Yukiya Arashiro continue to plug away in the heat around a minute down the road from the peloton, who are shuffling around as they seek to put the big sprint names in prime position to win the stage. André Greipel, Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel, Bryan Coquard and a handful of others will have their eyes on that prize.

The gap to the leaders remains stable, for now.

The route to the finish at Montauban is almost entirely downhill or flat from here so it will be a high-paced end to this largely sluggish stage. The polka dots of Thomas De Gendt slide across to the Lotto-Soudal car for some fluids and a chat. The peloton is starting to colour coordinate as the teams group together and work out their tactics.

That was the final categorised climb of this stage six, so Thomas De Gendt will wear polka dots again tomorrow despite not picking up any KoM points today.

40km remaining: As they near the top of the Côte de Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val, which is packed full of fans, Jan Barta gets his sprint on and beats his fellow breakawayer Yukiya Arashiro to the king of the mountains points. Their lead is now down to around 45secs over the peloton as they begin the descent towards the flat finish to stage six.

The peloton have upped their output as veteran Tommy Voeckler takes his turn on the nose. Even when the Tour de France isn’t quite so fun, it’s nearly always pretty:

The yellow jersey of Greg Van Avermaet
The yellow jersey of Greg Van Avermaet is spotted near the front of the pack. Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP
The peloton
The peloton cut through the forest. Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA

Someone who will be enjoying this low-key day is Chris Froome. Speaking this morning before the stage, he had no doubt over the identity of his biggest rival: “I’m happy with yesterday. Hopefully today will be straightforward. Quintana is the guy for me to watch right now. It’s unfortunate for Alberto [Contador] having suffered those injuries early on and he’s obviously paying the price for that.”

Contador and Froome riding together during stage six.
Alberto Contador and Chris Froome riding together during stage six. Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images

Just as I bemoan the lack of action, a chunky 30 seconds are slashed from the leaders’ advantage in the space of a few kms. Hugh says what we are all thinking:

I’ve got my fingers crossed that Geoffrey Soupe will make a dash for it.

If you’ve just joined us do feel free to read through the previous three and a half hours of action below. Alternatively, for much the same reward you could just read this tweet:

The peloton
The peloton sweep round a left bend as they hunt down the breakaway. Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA
Yukiya Arashiro of Japan and Jan Barta of Czech Republic
Yukiya Arashiro of Japan and Jan Barta of Czech Republic lead the way. Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA

Barta and Arashiro approach the Aveyron river with their lead still above one-and-a-half minutes, as the camera pans out to show the pretty breathtaking Les Gorges de l’Aveyron.

60km remaining: Brent Bookwalter has taken a stint on the nose of the peloton, the BMC rider helping to keep Barta and Arashiro in check before Teklehaimanot retakes his spot on the front. The gap between the leading duo and the rest has settled at around 1min 45sec.

Updated

The peloton is passing a very impressive hay-bale horse which must be 20 feet high. Apparently it’s called the Invisible Mare. They remain around 2min behind the breakers. Meanwhile, Eduardo has gone niche:

70km remaining: The gap between the peloton and the leading duo of Barta and Arashiro remains at around 2min. Côte de Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val is the next climb, a category three which might inject a bit of something into this pretty pedestrian stage. Mark Cavendish’s team-mate Daniel Teklehaimanot has been putting in a huge shift on the front. Here is a lovely piece about the Eritrean after he became the first African rider ever to wear the polka dot jersey last year:

It’s a lovely day for a cycle to Montauban:

The peloton on the climb.
The peloton on the climb. Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images
Bikes suspended from a crane by the side of the route.
Bikes suspended from a crane by the side of the route. Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images

75km remaining: Jan Barta and Yukiya Arashiro are battling on but their lead has fallen below 2min now, for the first time in a long while, and they are being told as much via a man on a motorbike with a chalkboard.

The day so far:

The teams with big sprinters in their ranks are pulling their weight at the front:

André Greipel speaking before the stage this morning: “It’s all about the first 25km, which teams are in the break or not. We have to control the bunch and hopefully we can setup a sprint. I just need to change something to finish 2cm further than I did three days ago.”

Another lull. The peloton remain as one behind the two breakaway riders, Jan Barta and Yukiya Arashiro. Their lead is slowly – very slowly – being chipped into. It’s down to just more than 2min.

Alberto Contador and Chris Froome ride together in the peloton.
Alberto Contador and Chris Froome ride together in the peloton. Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images
Fans line the streets on route to Montauban.
Fans line the streets on route to Montauban. Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images

85km remaining: The sunshine is beating down on the peloton as they cut south-west towards Montauban, with very little wind for respite. Jan Barta and Yukiya Arashiro, who broke away almost immediately at the start of this stage six, remain around 2min 50sec clear of the chasing pack but expect them to be reeled in as Etixx, Lotto and Dimension Data try to manufacture a sprint finish.

Shaun Rowark emails regarding Cavendish and his lack of interest in the intermediate sprints: “Or that Cav knows once it gets lumpy he will have no chance of winning the green off Sagan, and is just going for stage wins (becoming 2nd outright).”

Some half-time entertainment as Peter Sagan channels Rocky. You have to love the guy:

Mark Cavendish didn’t really contest the sprint but he did still scoop a few points on his way through, as did Marcel Kittel. Here are the updated standings:

Green jersey

Peter Sagan 161 points
Mark Cavendish 154
Marcel Kittel 152

100km remaining: It has been another routine/low-key/humdrum day so far (pick your favourite euphemism). On Eurosport they are discussing fertiliser. Barta and Arashiro remain around 3min 20sec clear but their lead is just being gently eroded.

Updated

Some suspicion over Cav’s lack of love for the intermediate sprints:

Here is what Cav said before the Tour: “I’m not coming to the Tour de France planning to stop. This is my 10th Tour de France start, every time I stopped, it’s been for different circumstances, so you never know the circumstances to it. The thing is I was in bed for a week after the Tour de France last year. I got sick. I know I can’t afford to do that this year. Definitely the biggest stage in the world is the Champs-Élysées for a sprinter. I know that my eight teammates are going to do the best to get to Paris and I’m going to try to do my best to get to Paris.” We’ll see.

The breakaway has been hit by a problem for Arashiro, who had to call for his team car. He and Barta remain 3min 40sec clear of the peloton flattens out for the next 50km or so before the final climb of the day at Côte de Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val. Well quite.

Barta and Arashiro had already swept up the highest intermediate sprint points, 20 and 17 respectively. Coquard’s win amongst the peloton sprinters hands him 15 points while Sagan took 11. There are 50 points going for the overall winner of the stage and it seems that is the only currency Cavendish is prepared to deal in.

Peter Sagan attacks and Bryan Coquard goes with him. The French rider zips around the outside as they both drive for the line and pinches the lion’s share of the sprint points. Well finished by Coquard. Mark Cavendish was nowhere to be seen, saving all his energy for what should be a fascinating bunch sprint at the end of this stage.

The peloton are approaching the intermediate sprint where there are plenty of points to play for. Here is a reminder of the standings:

Green jersey

Peter Sagan 150 points
Mark Cavendish 146 points
Marcel Kittel 142 points

Apologies to all #NameThatBreakaway enthusiasts for my recent neglect. It’s back:

Our breakaway duo still have a lead of around 4min 45sec as they approach the only intermediate sprint of the day. This should conjure a scrap for points between the major green jersey contenders when the peloton get there.

Arashiro let Barta take the king of the mountains lead over Col des Estaques and Barta has returned the favour at the top of Côte d’Aubin. All of which means they collect two points each in the race for the polka dot jersey, none of which matters greatly to Thomas De Gendt who leads the classification with 13 points. I needn’t have bothered.

Farmers sit on their tractors as the pack rides by during stage six.
Farmers sit on their tractors as the pack rides by during stage six. Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP

The most remarkable thing about this Tour so far is just how little incident there has been – all 198 riders are still in action. How about this:

A lull in the action as the peloton near the highest point of the Col des Estaques, 5min 25sec behind the leaders.

The leading duo begin the next climb, the category four Côte d’Aubin, with a lead of 5min over the peloton which has otherwise stayed intact. Some breakaway facts: they are both 31 years old, and neither have a Tour stage victory to their name. Czech rider Barta is contesting his third Tour having finished 25th last year while Japan’s Arashiro is making his sixth appearance.

Yukiya Arashiro and Jan Barta lead the way.
Yukiya Arashiro and Jan Barta lead the way. Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA

Barta takes over a stint on the front from Arashiro as the duo work up the relatively gentle 2km climb (average 6% gradient). A generous smattering of mountain folk cheer them along as Bora-Argon 18’s Barta takes the two king of the mountains points uncontested.

The breakawayers begin the first climb of the day, the Col des Estaques, with a 3min 40sec advantage. Live images:

Estaque, 1882, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
Estaque, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (not a live image). Photograph: Dea Picture Library/De Agostini/Getty Images

I would pay serious Yen to never have to watch this:

As the breakaway approach the start of the first climb of the day, their lead has settled at around 3min 30sec ahead of a determined peloton who are not in the mood to let this duo get any further clear.

Mark Cavendish, speaking before the start of stage six this morning: “[My legs] feel OK. The first day in the mountains wasn’t going to be easy for us and we finished half an hour down. We tried to save some energy for today.” Who will he be following into the finish straight? “Mark Renshaw hopefully – he is the man to follow. This stage suits a long lead out train but no one has really got that here.”

Mark Cavendish will be hoping for a bunch sprint at the end of stage six.
Mark Cavendish will be hoping for a bunch sprint at the end of stage six. Photograph: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

Barta and Arashiro, folk duo? I’d see them.

There are a few King of the Mountains points up for grabs this afternoon and the two climbs are approaching. The Col des Estaques is a brief category three ascent worth two points for the first rider over the line and one point for second place. It is quickly followed by the category four Côte d’Aubin – where only one point is on offer. Thomas De Gendt is currently the man in polka dots.

Etixx-Quick Step and Lotto-Soudal have teamed up with Dimension Data at the front of the peloton to reel in this breakaway – they have Marcel Kittel and André Greipel in their respective thoughts as they try to create a bunch sprint. But our breakawayers, Barta and Arashiro, have actually opened up their lead a little – they are more than 4min clear.

Arashiro on the prowl.
Arashiro on the prowl. Photograph: Viktor Cap / Alamy/Alamy

The leading duo have had their advantage cut during this descent – Dimension Data have done a sound job of reeling them in and the gap to the peloton is down to around 3min 45sec. Barta and Arashiro have reached a very flat 20km section which precedes the first climb of the day. Andrew Benton’s earlier email has set of a chain reaction which might get fantastically technical/pedantic:

It’s expected to reach 32 degrees on the road as the bunch makes its way southwest to Montauban. Our breakaway duo are in for a tough ride with only each other to lean on.

Barta and Arashiro. Go.

The breakaway duo at the start of stage six, Jan Barta and Yukiya Arashiro, have built up a lead of 4min 5sec after completing 25km. Dimension Data, Mark Cavendish’s team, have taken up residence at the nose of the peloton to make sure things don’t get out of hand; they want to engineer a bunch sprint for their man. The route now takes a steady downhill section before the approach to the first of three categorised climbs today, the 2km Col des Estaques.

“I was wondering who have been the best British cyclists of all time,” emails Andrew Benton, “and found this - The ten most successful British male road cyclists of all-time, which is better than emailing you a question. I had no idea Britain was so successful at this ‘Continental’s’ game. My question is......who in Le Tour history have represented island nations geographically smaller than the UK (ruling out Australia and NZ!). Anyone from the Pacific Islands, Bermuda, Jamaica, Greenland, Iceland, Mauritius? And how did they do?”

Stephen Roche won it in 1987, but will you allow Republic of Ireland to count as an island nation, seeing as it shares its island? Hmm. Vincenzo Nibali is from Sicily (definitely doesn’t count). I throw to the floor...

Greg Van Avermaet
Greg Van Avermaet decked out in yellow at the start of stage six. Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters

Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-QuickStep) leads the youth classification, having won the same competition in the Dauphiné, and Thomas De Gendt (Lotto–Soudal) is the man wearing polka dots having racked up 13 king of the mountains points yesterday in the breakaway.

The race for the green jersey has been very entertaining so far and today’s stage could have a big say in the eventual outcome – there won’t be much for the sprinters to go at over the next week. Peter Sagan, winner in each of the past four years, leads the way:

Green jersey standings

Peter Sagan 150 points
Mark Cavendish 146 points
Marcel Kittel 142 points

The general classification took a bit of a shake up yesterday. Here is the top of the leaderboard as it stands coming into stage six:

Yellow jersey standings

Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) 25hr 34min 46sec
Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-QuickStep) +5.11
Belmonte Valverde (Movistar) +5.13
11 riders +5.17 (Froome, Quintana, Aru)

And a couple of riders have made an early attack: Jan Barta (Bora-Argon 18) and Yukiya Arashiro of Lampre-Merida. The peloton looks up, shrugs, and rolls on.

Stage six begins!

Updated

Stage six is about to get under way. Incredibly all 198 riders are there at the start – several injuries but there have still been no abandons in the 2016 Tour.

This is the first time the Tour has passed through the small town of Arpajon-sur-Cère in Cantal. First impressions? It’s hot:

A bandaged Alberto Contador really suffered yesterday as a gruelling stage was made harder by the heat and the high pace set at the front of the peloton by Team Sky and then Movistar. This image at the end of five and a half long hours captures his mood:

Contador crosses the line at the end of stage five.
Contador crosses the line at the end of stage five. Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA

New game: Name Your Dream Breakaway:

Van Avermaet is an excellent classics specialist who won the Tirreno–Adriatico in March against a top field including Peter Sagan, Thibaut Pinot and Vincenzo Nibali. But the Belgian will not have the legs in the mountains against the main GC contenders and will not pose them a threat. Alberto Contador’s day-one crash has left him more than a minute off Chris Froome’s pace, but Nairo Quintana and Fabio Aru are locked on the same time as last year’s winner, with Pinot 11 seconds back. They will all be keeping a close eye on each other again today.

Greg Van Avermaet broke away early yesterday with a group of nine which soon became three, and then two, until the BMC rider was the last man standing. You can read more on his brilliant ride and the rest of stage five with William Fotheringham’s report:

Stage six – Arpajon-sur-Cère to Montauban (191km)

A humble Greg Van Avermaet said yesterday that wearing the yellow jersey for “one day in my career” was a lifetime dream achieved, having dominating yesterday’s stage five to Le Lioran to take the overall lead. But with an advantage of more than five minutes he can expect to hold on to it at least until the going gets tough in the Pyrenees, and today certainly shouldn’t prove a threat: a stage which hands an opportunity to Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel and the other sprinters to contest a win, providing their teams can help them through the various short sharp climbs along the way. The stage gets rolling at around 11.45 BST.

Here is more on what to expect today, courtesy of our interactive stage-by-stage guide:

Final sprint day for a while so Kittel, Cavendish and company won’t want to let it go to a break. Lumpy at the start to encourage an early break, this is the classic ‘transition’ stage that will wear down the field due to distance and probably the heat before a bunch sprint with all the obvious candidates. It’s quite common for the mercury to nudge 40 degrees in these parts in July, so the domestiques could be busy.

Stage six
Stage six: Arpajon-sur-Cère to Montauban (191km) Photograph: Guardian Interactive

Updated

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