Stage 6

The road

At the start

Mâcon to Dijon, and the wind

Mark Cavendish won in Saint-Vulbas for a thirty-fifth Tour stage, one clear of Merckx at last, and he did it without his last lead-out man. Nothing moved on general classification: Pogačar leads Evenepoel by 45 seconds and Vingegaard by 50. Today is 164 kilometres through the Côte Chalonnaise vineyards to Dijon, flat enough for another sprint — but the roads past Chagny are open and exposed, and the GC teams know it.

How it was won

1. 196 km to go

   Lotto spark the crosswinds

   On exposed roads past Chagny, Lotto Dstny fire the first shot and the peloton begins to fracture in the wind as the GC teams scramble to the front.

2. 270 km to go

   Pogačar caught out alone

   The echelons form and, exposing a gap in his climber-heavy team, the yellow jersey is left isolated, swapping turns with Van der Poel while Ayuso, Almeida and Pedersen are stranded behind — until a truce lets them regroup.

3. 3At the line

   Groenewegen pips a relegated Philipsen

   Dylan Groenewegen explodes off De Lie's wheel for a photo-finish win in Dijon, with Philipsen relegated for closing Van Aert to the barriers.

The result