Groenewegen wins sixth Tour stage in photo finish
In the third mass sprint of this year's Tour de France, there is a third winner. A "fortunate" Dylan Groenewegen pushes himself the decisive centimeters before the competition at the finish line. Mark Cavendish, the record sprinter who was celebrated the day before, unfortunately had bad luck.
Dylan Groenewegen won the sixth stage of the 111th Tour de France. The 31-year-old secured the win in a photo finish after 163.5 kilometers from Macon to Dijon. "I'm happy after being a little disappointed before," said the 31-year-old about his sixth Tour success. Jasper Philipsen and Biniam Girmay from Eritrea finished closely behind him. Mark Cavendish, who played no role after his record-breaking win the day before, was in sixth place. German sprinter Phil Bauhaus finished fifth, and Pascal Ackermann was tenth.
"It was a very demanding race due to the wind. I didn't feel good in the final, that's why I'm happy," Bauhaus said in ARD. Ackermann was tenth. "We did everything right today. In the circle, someone shot in front of me, which cost me too many positions," said the sprinter from Israel-Premier Tech.
Top stars challenged Pogacar on Friday
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) kept the Yellow Jersey, as he reached the goal with the other classification riders with the main field. The Slovenian still leads by 45 seconds over Belgian time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel. Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard has a 50-second deficit. Unlike the exhausting tempo of the day before, the field was fast from the start. Visma-Team, the team of defending champion Jonas Vingegaard, used strong headwinds for an attack on Pogacar, intensified the tempo, and caused a split in the field. Pogacar stayed with Vingegaard, but lost some helpers around the Cologne Nils Politt in this phase. Several top sprinters also missed the jump into the leading group, but the two fields came back together after about ten kilometers.
However, Cavendish had bad luck: In the worst possible moment, he had a flat tire and suddenly had a deficit of almost 1.5 minutes. Angrily, the British rider had to work his way back with his helpers, but also "Cav" made it back to the decisive phase in time.
On the coming Friday, there will be the next power showdown of the stars in the first individual time trial. 25.3 kilometers lie between Nuits-Saint-Georges, where Marcel Kittel triumphed in the sprint in 2017, and Gevrey-Chambertin to be covered. Except for a small climb in the middle of the course, the entire route is flat.
Groenewegen's cycling victory in the Tour de France sixth stage adds to his storied career in sport. The upcoming individual time trial in the Tour de France promises to test the endurance and speed of top riders like Tadej Pogacar, who currently holds the Yellow Jersey. Despite experiencing bad luck with a flat tire, Mark Cavendish managed to make it back to the competitive group, showcasing his resilience in cycling.
