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The 2023 Tour de France burst back into life on Tuesday as Australia’s Jai Hindley took possession of the yellow jersey with a win on stage five. Hindley pushed on with the breakaway with both Jonas Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma and Tadej Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates taking too long to close the gap, allowing him to claim a brilliant solo win.
Today’s stage six goes deep into the high Pyrenees, and the peloton will climb the iconic Col du Tourmalet en route to the first summit finish of the Tour in Cauterets. There are plenty of obstacles to keep the peloton interested over the 145km route with a small category three climb, an intermediate sprint before the Col d’Aspin and the difficult Tourmalet. A climb up to Cauterets concludes the day with the first summit finish of this year’s race.
It is all set up for another showdown between the podium contenders with a breakaway likely to form early but by the time the final climb comes around, the strongest climbers should be left at the front.
Follow all the latest updates from stage six below:
Tour de France 2023 – Stage Six
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Tour de France stage six
96km to go: Those in the breakaway are positioning themselves ahead of the intermediate sprint. Wou van Aert is never the front but has previously said he isn’t interested in the green jersey.
Bryan Coquard is let through by Van Aert who takes to his back wheel and follows him over the line. Coquard takes the points for the sprint.
Mike Jones6 July 2023 13:33
Tour de France stage six
100km to go: Bora-Hansgrohe have upped the tempo at the front of the peloton and are holding the gap between them and the breakaway at three minutes.
That will be cut sharply once the leading riders reach the next mountain climb.
Mike Jones6 July 2023 13:28
Tour de France stage six
104km to go: A radio message from team TotalEnergies is very revealing. They are not happy. None of their riders went with the breakaway and the team officials are not impressed.
Mike Jones6 July 2023 13:24
Tour de France stage six
106km to go: The time gap between the breakaway and the pelation atop Cote de Capvern-les-Bains is three minutes 15 seconds. Which is a decent lead but nothing too worrisome for the GC riders in the main pack.
The next challege is the intermediate sprint at Sarrancolin.
Mike Jones6 July 2023 13:17
Tour de France stage six
111km to go: Today is the second time team Bora-Hansgrohe have the yellow jersey.
In 2018, Peter Sagan took it after winning stage 2 in La Roche-sur-Yon and wore it during the team time trial in Cholet. It was also the tenth Tour de France stage win for Bora-Hansgrohe yesterday.
The German team is taking part in the Tour de France for the tenth consecutive time.
Now they have all kind of individual stage victories: in bunch sprints, flat and uphill, with Peter Sagan (5), ITT with Maciej Bodnar in Marseille in 2017, from breakaways in medium difficulty stages with Lennard Kämna, Nils Politt and Patrick Konrad, and a mountain stage with Jai Hindley.
Mike Jones6 July 2023 13:13
Tour de France stage six
115 km to go: There’s 250 metres left until the top of the Cote de Capvern-les-Bains, Neilson Powless takes the the front as they reach the peak and he claims a couple of points in the King of the Mountains battle.
Kasper Asgreen takes one point.
Mike Jones6 July 2023 13:08
Tour de France stage six
118 km to go: The Cote de Capvern-les-Bains is the first of today’s climbs. It’s a 5.6km uphill category 3 with a gradient of 4.8%. Not the most difficult of the mountains today and one that the breakaway should handle without too much trouble.
Mike Jones6 July 2023 13:00
Tour de France stage six
120km to go: Five riders, Neilson Powless (EF-Education EasyPost), Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-Quick Step), Oliver Naesen (AG2R-Citröen), Anthony Perez (Cofidis) and Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar) have closed the gapt to the breakaway which now sits at 20 riders.
Meanwhile in the peloton Bora-Hansgrohe are at the front setting the pace. Yellow jersey holder Jai Hindley rides for this team.
Mike Jones6 July 2023 12:58
Tour de France stage six
125km to go: Most of the general classification riders, including Jonas Vingegaard, haven’t left the pelaton but they’ll still be favourites for the stage win.
The first of the climbs today arrives in 10km.
Mike Jones6 July 2023 12:50
Tour de France stage six
(AFP via Getty Images)
(EPA)
Mike Jones6 July 2023 12:47
