Dylan Groenewegen wins Tour de France Stage 6, Tadej Pogacar retains yellow jersey

DIJON – Dutch sprinter Dylan Groenewegen won Stage 6 of the Tour de France on July 5 after an eye-catching run though Burgundy ended in a mass dash for the finish line in Dijon.

He said: “I was fighting for position. I think it was (Jasper) Philipsen on the right. We were sprinting next to each other and I love these sprints, next to each other, and I beat him just on the finish line.

“Yesterday, I was really disappointed, also the first day, but that was sprinting – sometimes the gap closes. But now we have a victory, a victory in the first week means a lot for me and the team.

“The sprint field is really strong and the lead-outs too, but hopefully we can do it again.”

Overnight leader Tadej Pogacar retains the yellow jersey by 45 seconds from Belgian Remco Evenepoel, while defending champion Jonas Vingegaard is third, a further five seconds adrift.

Rounding out the top five are Spaniard Juan Ayuso and Pogacar’s fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic.

Philipsen was second in Dijon but was later declassified for blocking Wout van Aert in the sprint, moving Biniam Girmay into second place on the stage, with Fernando Gaviria third.

Said van Aert: “I was closed in again by Jasper Philipsen. That’s a bad habit of his. It wasn’t super dangerous, I could still get to the brakes.

“But I was level with him and he really went to the barrier. He felt me coming, and that’s not professional to close the door like that.

“Am I angry? I am mainly happy that I stayed upright. I would be angry if there were no sanctions.

“He does not need to be thrown out of the race for me, but a declassification is appropriate.”

The two previous sprints on the Tour saw record breakers, with Mark Cavendish, 39, winning his 35th career stage on July 3.

Two days before that, Girmay became the first black African to win a stage.

In 2020, Groenewegen, 31, was banned for nine months for his role in a near-fatal crash that sent Fabio Jakobsen over a safety barrier and into a metal post at the Tour of Poland.

Jayco-Alula’s Groenewegen claimed his sixth Tour stage victory less than three weeks after winning the Dutch national road race.

Intermittent showers with temperatures of around 20 deg C spared the riders from the extreme heat of the opening days.

But Vingegaard’s team Visma frequently upped the tempo when the roads narrowed, causing stressful gaps in the peloton.

There was also a single hill on the 163km route, just outside of Macon, in a category four climb taken by polka dot climbers’ jersey wearer Jonas Abrahamsen.

The seventh stage on July 5 is a 25km individual time-trial from Nuits-Saint-Georges to Gevrey Chambertin through open countryside and vineyards just to the south of Dijon.

Although the route is largely flat terrain, the nature of the race guarantees a shake-up of the overall standings.

Evenepoel is the reigning time-trial world champion and could put pressure on Pogacar’s lead. AFP