Alexey Lutsenko of Astan Pro Team won the 191km sixth stage of the Tour de France at Mont Aigoual after he forged clear from the day’s early break, but the uphill finish was not enough to encourage any aggression from the overall favourites, who were content to stick together.
Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) retained the yellow jersey, three seconds clear of Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) and seconds ahead of Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) after a stage in which Ineos Grenadiers set the tempo on the final climb, albeit without placing any of their rivals in undue difficulty.
The adventurous 2020 route has yet to encourage much invention from the top tier of overall contenders, though the Tour is still young and there are tougher days to come, starting this weekend in the Pyrenees.
Not for the first time this Tour, the two South African riders in the race – Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) and Ryan Gibbons (NTT Pro Cycling) – crossed the lined virtually side by side in 5hr 3min 43sec, which was in the group 31:9 behind Lutsenko and in 129th and 130th for the stage overall.
On the general classification, Impey is now 119th, 1:05.18 behind, while Gibbons is 140th of the 172 riders, 1:17 behind.
