Dutch champion Dylan Groenewegen won the sixth stage of the Tour de France after a group sprint came to the finish on Thursday.
Tadej Pogacar retained the yellow jersey as leader of the cumulative standings, on a day where the tension was cut with a knife.
Groenewegen claimed his sixth career stage victory at the Tour de France, ahead of Jasper Philipsen and Biniam Girmay, in that order.
“I don’t actually know what happened, but I was the first,” Groenewegen said happily.
There were no major changes in the general classification. Pogacar maintained a 45-second lead over Remco Evenepoel. Two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard is in third place, 50 seconds behind the Slovenian.
Montrealer Guillaume Boivin, of the Israel-Premier Tech team, was the best Canadian cyclist by virtue of his 26e place, at the same time as Groenewegen.
His teammates Derek Gee of Ottawa and Hugo Houle of Sainte-Perpétue followed at 31e and 110e levels, respectively. In the cumulative ranking, Gee is 21ewhile Houle and Boivin follow at 63e and 131e ranks, in order.
Matthieu Van der Poel, who had been a bunny for his teammate Phillipsen during the stage, launched the sprint in the city of Dijon. Groenewegen, however, fought back at the right time and used his incredible power to narrowly prevail at the finish line.
The fight between the main contenders for the yellow jersey is set to resume on Friday with an individual time trial. The 25-kilometre race features a climb with an average gradient of 6.1% that will put the riders to the test, especially in the final section.
Thursday’s relatively short 163.5-kilometer stage started in Macon, taking the peloton through the Burgundy vineyards. At the start of the stage, the riders passed a giant mural of French striker Antoine Griezmann, who was born in Macon.
Jonas Abrahamsen set the pace for the race at the top of a short climb, taking classification points for the polka dot jersey, which is awarded to the best climber in the Tour de France. He then broke away with Axel Zingle. The pair were caught shortly afterwards.
On long sections of windy roads, the peloton rode at a steady pace, with riders careful not to get dropped. With about 85 kilometres to go, Vingegaard’s teammates Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte moved into the lead to pick up the pace.
The peloton lined up and split into two, but the main contenders managed to stay in the first group, even if Pogacar found himself isolated. It was only a scare for the leader of the UAE Team Emirates team, since the second group with his teammates finally managed to close the gap.
The sprint teams took the lead with four kilometres to go as the fastest men in the peloton prepared for their final push. Groenewegen was not immediately certain of his victory and waited until he was before showing his joy with the members of the Jayco AlUla team.
“It was so close that I couldn’t celebrate when I crossed the finish line,” Groenewegen said. “In the end, we won.”