Dylan Groenewegen has received his first Tour de France stage in two years after edging out Jasper Philipsen in an enormous bunch end in Dijon on stage six.
Distinctive in his nosepiece shades and Dutch champion’s jersey, the Jayco-AlUla rider netted what was his sixth Tour de France victory in complete, after a chaotic, high-speed sprint.
Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who received the inexperienced jersey final 12 months and was given a masterful leadout by Mathieu van der Poel, was in the end relegated after being judged to have deviated from his line and shutting in Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike).
He was given 107th place – final rider within the massive entrance group that completed similtaneously the winner.
The choice noticed Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) moved to second place, with Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) third.
The 163.5km parcours took the race from Mâcon to Dijon in jap France, and although it lacked any main climbs and was thought-about a nailed-on dash end, crosswinds made it a tense day.
At one level the race did break up, with yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar discovering himself remoted from his UAE Crew Emirates team-mates. It got here again collectively although, and there was in the end no change to the top-10 on GC.
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Talking after the race, Jayco AlUla boss Matt White talked about how essential the win was for the workforce.
“An enormous chunk of our publicity is these two weeks (sic),” he stated. “That is win quantity 19, however I believe we would commerce the opposite 18 in for at the moment’s one.
“It was a really messy dash, however the principle factor is that he bought there contemporary, and he bought open air, as a result of he is bought a variety of velocity. He is modified his coaching this 12 months, backed the quantity off a bit of bit and actually targeting what his largest high quality is and that’s velocity.”
The way it occurred
The peloton rolled out of Mâcon certain on a northward trajectory for the house of French mustard and what was nearly sure to be a bunch end. The one climb of observe was the fourth-category Col du Bois Clair (1.7km, 5.8%), dispatched after solely 10km.
Polka-dot jersey Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) managed to slide the peloton nearly unopposed so as to add a single level to what’s now a six-point lead over Tadej Pogačar within the mountains competitors, although that appears unlikely to final lengthy.
He continued onwards, too, accompanied by Axel Zingle (Cofidis), earlier than being caught 20km or so later because the race approached the intermediate dash. Philipsen received this, adopted in by Girmay and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), apparently recovered after his high-speed crash in sight of the end line yesterday.
A nagging westerly wind that was gusting as much as 40kph had the entire peloton working onerous mid-stage, as riders tried to remain on their guard towards echelons and splits.
UAE Crew Emirates weren’t, apparently, on guard sufficient, and when a break up did occur with 80km to go, solely its chief Pogačar managed to be on the precise aspect of it.
Catastrophe was averted although, with the race coming again collectively 10km later, although the wind remained a menace.
Because the bunch approached the outskirts of Dijon the sprinters’ groups started massing on the entrance, and with Astana doing a nice job of maintaining Mark Cavendish close to the entrance of the race, followers of the Manxman could have thought they had been concerning the witness one more stage win from him.
However into the ultimate kilometre, issues bought an entire lot messier regardless of a valiant effort from Uno-X Mobility for Alexander Kristoff and Mathieu van der Poel for Philipsen, and it was Groenewegen who ducked into open house to take the honours.
Outcomes to observe…
Outcomes
Tour de France 2024, Stage 6: Mâcon > Dijon, 163.5km
1. Dylan Groenewegen (NED) Jayco-AlUla, in 3:31:55
2. Biniam Girmay (ERI) Intermarché-Wanty
3. Fernando Gaviria (COL) Movistar
4. Phil Bauhaus (GER) Bahrain Victorious
5. Arnaud De Lie (BEL) Lotto Dstny
6. Wout van Aert (BEL) Visma-Lease a Bike
7. Arnaud Démare (FRA) Arkéa-B&B Inns
8. Alexander Kristoff (NOR) Uno-X Mobility
9. Pascal Ackermann (GER) Israel-PremierTech
10. Piet Allegaert (BEL) Cofidis, all at identical time
Basic Classification after Stage 6
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Crew Emirates, in 26:47:19
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Fast-Step, +45sec
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +50sec
4. Juan Ayuso (Esp) UAE Crew Emirates, +1:10
5. Primož Roglič (Slo) Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +1:14
6. Carlos Rodríguez (Esp) Ineos Grenadiers, +1:16
7. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal-Fast Step, +1:32
8. João Almeida (Por) UAE Crew Emirates, at s.t.
9. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +3:20
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, +3:21
