Lutsenko escapes to victory in stage 6 of the Tour de France

0

Alexey Lutsenko claimed his maiden victory on the Tour de France as he won the sixth stage as the top guns again delayed the fight for the general classification.

Lutsenko prevailed from an eight-man breakaway at the top of Mont Aigoual to add to his 2017 Vuelta stage win. Jesus Herrada took second place, 55 seconds behind with Greg van Avermaet in third, 2:15 off the pace.

Adam Yates retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey after staying tucked in the main peloton, which crossed the line with a deficit of 2:53.

“We talked about it in the team bus this morning and we agreed that it was a stage that suited me,” said Lutsenko, who broke clear in the punishing ascent to the Col de la Lusette, a 11.7km climb at an average gradient of 7.3%.

Behind him, the main favourites did not use the ascent to test each other, leaving defending champion Egan Bernal’s Ineos team to set a moderate pace.

“We knew that this climb was tricky, it was a pretty bad surface. I think we climbed at our own speed and saved energy, we just tried to stay safe,” said Ineos domestique Michal Kwiatkowski.

“Everyone is keeping their powder dry and is saving energy for the next days,” said Yates, who was never threatened throughout the stage.

Tadej Pogacar, who is third overall, suffered an untimely puncture in the climb up to the Col de la Lusette but managed to regain his place in the peloton easily, thanks to the bunch’s slow pace.

The only sparkle came in the final metres, when Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe produced a brief attack to regain one second after losing the yellow jersey to Yates following a 20-second penalty for illegal feeding on Wednesday.

Friday’s seventh stage is a 168-km ride from Millau to Lavaur, which is expected to favour the sprint specialists.

Tour de France 2020 – stage 6 results (Le Teil – Mont Aigoual):

1Alexey Lutsenko (Astana)

4:32:34

2Jesus Herrada (Cofidis)

+55”

3Greg Van Avermaet (CCC)

+02’15”

4Neilson Powless (EF Pro Cycling)

+-02’17”

5Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step)

+02’52”

6Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo)

+02’53”

7Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers)

,,

8Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers)

,,

9Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers)

,,

10Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott)

,,

11Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)

,,

12Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott)

,,

13Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic)

,,

14Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ)

,,

15Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma)

,,

16Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)

,,

17Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe)

,,

18Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale)

,,

19Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe)

,,

20Sergio Higuita (EF Pro Cycling)

,,

 

Tour de France 2020 – general classification after stage 6:

1Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott)

27:03:57

2Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma)

+03”

3Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)

+07”

4Guillaume Martin (Cofidis)

+09”

5Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers)

+13”

6Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma)

,,

7Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott)

,,

8Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic)

,,

9Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana)

,,

10Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo)

,,

11Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale)

,,

12Mikel Landa (Bahrain McLaren)

,,

13Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ)

,,

14Rigoberto Uran (EF Pro Cycling)

,,

15Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo)

,,

16Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step)

+15”

17Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe)

+22”

18Enric Mas (Movistar)

,,

19Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)

+34”

20Sergio Higuita (EF Pro Cycling)

+41”

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here