Key events
122km to go: While the riders are in Brittany, it would be impractical for them to feast on local delicacies such as cider, bordier butter, Madame Loik cheese, oysters, custard cake and crepes. Here’s the more mundane fare they can expect to find in their musettes.
123km to go: The peloton rolls through a feed zone, where various team soigneurs are standing at the side of the road, dangling musettes full of grub at arm’s length for the riders to grab.
128km to go: Today’s stage finishes with a double-ascent of the Mur de Bretagne (Wall of Brittany) and here’s what Geraint Thomas had to say about it in an interview with TNT Sports before the start of today’s stage. “It’s just tough, it’s just like … well, we all know it’s only two kilometres but it’s steep, dead straight, there’s always a good atmosphere on there. It’s always rammed with people and … yeah, it’s just easy to underestimate because it’s only two kilometres but it’s a tough little climb. It keeps going as well, which is probably the hard bit. You have that steep bit which keeps dragging all the way to the line. These days, with the punch of the guys, it’s going to be a tough one.”
132km to go: Riding in his final Tour, Geraint Thomas is the best placed rider in the breakaway but is over 14 minutes down on the maillot jaune and not a threat. The peloton seem to have given uyp the chase again and the gap is 1min 24sec and rising.
135km to go: “Hope today’s stage is as exciting as yesterday’s and maybe for another good effort from Quinn Simmons,” writes Dynamic Damien. “That Stars & Bars jersey looks fantastic on the road (though the handlebar mustache is far less-so in the post-stage interviews)! Off for an early kickabout with friends before tuning back in to the updates.”
135km to go: The gap is closing but remains at 57 seconds.
137km to go: The gap is out of 1min 12sec but Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider Bruno Armirail has been ordered to the front of the bunch to step up the pace.
139km to go: It might be Pavel Sivakov’s birthday but he has not been excused domestique duties on the day that’s in it. The UAE Team Emirates XRG rider drops out of the peloton to stock up some bidons for his teammates from the team car.
Your breakaway: Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Marco Haller (Tudor), Ewen Costiou (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar) have opened a gap of 48 seconds on the bunch. The Brits (Thomas) and Bretons (Costiou) are both represented.
We have our breakaway of the day!
141km to go: This is interesting. Geraint Thomas, Neilson Powless and three other riders have escaped the peloton, which seems to have given up its chase and settled down.
142km to go: Marc Soler (Team Emirates XRG) is at the front of the bunch, which remains intact after over 50 kilometres of frenetic racing.
148km to go: So much for having a happy birthday. At the back of the bunch, Lenny Martinez raises his hand in front of the TV motorbike so that those in his team car will know he needs attention. There’s something wrong with his derailleur, he’s stuck in a low gear and his legs are spinning faster the Road Runner’s.
149km to go: After nearly 50 kilometres, we still have no breakaway and the average speed of the peloton remains just shy of 55km per hour. “There’ll be riders sitting at the back of that line just praying for it to finally split so things ease off,” say Robbie McEwan on TNT Sports. “And I imagine somewhere about a third of the way down the peloton there’ll be a young Slovenian [who’ll be rubbing his hands together metaphorically and saying “They are playing right into my hands’ His name’s Tadej, for those who are wondering.”
154km to go: Edward Theuns (Lidl Trek) risks incurring the race jury’s wrath as he blatantly drafts behind a team car while making his way back to the bunch after an unscheduled stop for a mechanical issue, crash or comfort break. He doesn’t look like he’s suffered a crash and his on the bike he started the stage on – it could have been something as simple as a puncture.
160km to go: There are a couple of birthday boys in today’s peloton, although they’ll do well to light 50 candles across two cakes at the speed they’re going. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) has 22 to blow out, while Pavel Sivakov (UAE Emirates-XRG) will be extinguishing 28. Happy birthday to both, although I’d say they’re both suffering at the moment.
165km to go: Powless’s attack comes to nothing and with the peloton going at an average speed of 54 kilometres per hour it’s no great surprise.
173km to go: With the bunch back together and the kilometres flying by, Neilson Powless tries to escape off the front in the pink colours of EF Education-EasyPost, who won yesterday’s stage courtesy of Ben Healy. The Native American is riding in his fifth Tour and his best finish came in 2022, when he finished 12th.
175km to go: If you were unaware of the Tour’s new wheeze of disciplining guilty (or entirely innocent in the case of Coquard) riders with retrospective yellow cards for “every touch of shoulders, switch of wheels, dramatic acceleration and multilingual insult”, Jeremy Whittle has an explainer …
178km to go: Tim Wellens (Emirates-XRG) is at the front of a peloton chasing down Schmid and Wout van Aert. The gap has been closed after 17 kilometres of effort from the duo. It’s all back together …
187 km to go: Coquard was involved in the crash that resulted in Jasper Philipsen having to abandon the race and received a yellow card from race jury who seem to fall over themselves each year in their efforts to find new and annoying ways to mire their this great event in petty disciplinary bureaucracy.
While most people on the Tour seemed to put the accident down as just one of those things that happen in bike-racing that nobody was to blame for, Coquard was disciplined and is now one more yellow card from being thrown off the race. It would be fair to say the sprinter is not happy.
“Obviously, it wasn’t my intention to cause a crash; I didn’t want to take any risks,” said Coquard, before learning he would be disciplined. for irregular sprinting “I was clearly thrown off balance; I almost lost my shoe. Even if it wasn’t intentional, I want to apologise to Philipsen and Alpecin-Deceuninck. Even if I’m not a bad guy, it’s not pleasant.”
The following day, having described his own injuries as feeling like he’d been “hit by a car”, Coquard said: “In this situation, there was never any intentional or aggressive action on my part. It was the start of Jonathan Milan’s sprint that made me move a bit. I was level with his derailleur, the Intermarché-Wanty rider came in as well, our handlebars touched, I got off balance, and the rest is history.”
190km to go: Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) drops out of the peloton to ride alongside the medical car and takes a bandag from the doctor. Rolling along at 60 kilometres with just one hand on his bars, he pulls down the sock on his left ankle and begins dressing a wound.
192km to go: Ineos Grenadiers and the Emirates-XRG team of Tadej Pogacar have shut down the attack but Van Aert and Schmid still have a lead of about five seconds on the bunch. Can they snap the elastic?
They’re racing in stage seven!
194km to go: Protruding from the sun-roof of his official race Skoda, race director Christian Prudhomme waves his yellow flag and the cyclists take off. Almost immediately, about 25 riders put the hammer down and try to escape. Wout van Aert (Visma–Lease a Bike) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla0) are among them, leading the charge.
Oscar Onley: The Scottish Picnic PostalNL rider is 11th on General Classification but his team boss said on Wednesday that he’s more interested in the 22-year-old from Kelso trying to nick a stage win or two than finishing high up the GC. Onley is a good climber and today’s is a stage he’ll have marked down as a potential win.
Christian Prudhomme on today’s stage: “The peloton’s stay in Brittany will kick off with another contest between the puncheurs,” said the race director. “After leaving Saint-Malo and heading for Saint-Brieuc, history buffs will recall the exploits of Bernard Hinault as the race passes through his home village of Yffiniac.
“But everyone’s attention will be focused very much on the present as the double ascent of the Côte de Mûr-de-Bretagne approaches. A warning to attackers who are a bit too eager – it’s a climb where tactical sense is almost as decisive as physical strength.”
Today’s roll-out is under way: For the eighth time in Tour history, a stage begins in the picturesque Breton town of Saint-Malo. The riders are due to be given the signal to start racing in about five minutes.
KOM classification: top five after stage six
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Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) 7pts
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Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 5pts
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Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) 4pts
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Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-Alula) 3pts
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Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) 3pts
Points classification: top five after stage six
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Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) 112
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Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck),108
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Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 106
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Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) 102
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Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) 72
General Classification: top 10 after stage six
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Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 21hrs 52mins 34secs
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Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) +1sec
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Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick-Step) +43secs
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Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) +1min
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Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1min 14secs
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Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1min 23secs
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João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +1min 59secs
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Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) +2mins 1sec
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Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +2min 32secs
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Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +2min 36secs
Healy wins stage six as Van der Poel reclaims yellow
Stage six report: Ireland’s Ben Healy struck out alone to win his first ever stage of the Tour de France, with Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel wrestling back the leader’s yellow jersey from reigning champion Tadej Pogacar. Jeremy Whittle reports from Vire …
Stage seven: Saint-Malo to Mûr-de-Bretagne (194km)
William Fotheringham’s stage seven guide: Day one in Brittany is more straightforward, passing Bernard Hinault’s village of Yffiniac – 40 years since the Badger became the last French Tour winner – before two ascents of Mûr de Bretagne to conclude. The finish up the “Wall” is harder than anything the race has tackled to date, and you’d expect Pogacar to make a statement of intent, but it will also suit Van der Poel, winner here in 2021.
