Stage 6

The road

At the start

Froome is out, the Tour breathes

Chris Froome climbed off in the rain before the pavé even started, and Alberto Contador lost 2:37 on it. Vincenzo Nibali leads his own team-mate Jakob Fuglsang by two seconds, Peter Sagan by 44, and Richie Porte — Sky's leader now — by 1:54. Today runs 194 kilometres from Arras to Reims through the Somme battlefields and along the Chemin des Dames, and the sprinters want it back.

How it was won

1. 112 km to go

   Omega Pharma break it up in the wind

   Mate, the last survivor of the break, is caught with twelve kilometres left and Omega Pharma immediately go to work on exposed, windy roads. Echelons form, Pierre Rolland is caught on the wrong side of the split, and Contador and Nibali match each other pedal stroke for pedal stroke at the front.

2. 21 km to go

   Kwiatkowski throws caution away

   The Pole attacks inside the last kilometre with Giant-Shimano out the back and nobody willing to lead the chase. He is caught, but the panic he causes shreds the lead-outs into ones and twos.

3. 3At the line

   Greipel finally lands one

   Out of the chaos in Reims comes the one man with a clear head: Greipel hits the front at 150 metres and wins by more than a bike length, Kittel dropped and Sagan back in fifth.

The result