Stage 6: Arras to Reims, 194km. Flat.
One hundred and ninety-three men woke up this morning with bruised bodies but unbroken spirits after yesterday's epic journey across the pave of northern France, ready to continue their journey on yet another stage of the Tour. Today was seen as a day for the majority to take stock and try recover as best as anyone can recover on a 194km stage that by all accounts had the potential for echelons and the splitting of a peloton.
The stage itself was steeped in history following, as best the road allowed, the line of the western front from the first world war and passing such battle grounds as the Somme and Chemin des Dames. 15 riders who took part in the Tour de France 100 years ago died in the first World War, and incredible sacrifice that you can't help think about as the race sweeps through this part of France.
Unfortunately the riders didn't get much time to think; crashes once again were aplenty on the stage, perhaps the result of tired minds from what has been a tough start to this tour from the huge crowds in England and that very tough second stage, to the transfer back to France and then yesterday's chaos on the cobbles.
It was a stage that should have lent itself to a successful early break. With so many people tired, there had to be some who could muster an attack that the bunch let clear, but such is the greed of the sprinters and the power of the race radios that they were once again able to reel in the days early break and set it up for another gallop.
Of course, the days break did go clear. Jerome Pineau (IAM Cycling), Tom Leezer (Belkin), Luis Mate Mardones (Cofidis) and Arnaud Gerard (Bretagne-Seche Environnement) made up the four man group designated with putting their teams sponsors on the TV for a while before the chase began. As the pace rose in the final hour of the race, cross-winds forced the field into echelons and it caused a split that punished the French teams. Thibaut Pinot and Pierre Rolland were the worst affected of the big-name riders, coming in almost a minute behind the peloton.
And so to the Marcel Kittel show once again, right? Well, not so. He wasn't beaten head-to-head, but rather he suffered a puncture just as his lead-out train was beginning to ramp things up. The disappearance of Kittel from the show clearly spurred everyone else on with the sudden realisation that any one of them were now free to win a stage. Much like the loss of Cavendish has made the wins come that little bit easier for Kittel (though that's not to say they wouldn't have come anyway), so too was Kittel's loss an opening for the rest.
That opening was almost spoiled when the impressive Michal Kwiatkowski went for a flier off the front of the bunch with a kilometre remaining but just when you were hoping the line might arrive and reward such an effort, the bunch swept him up and the fast men staked their claim for the stage. And with Kittel gone, who else but the other big German sprinter to take the spoils and keep the sprint victories in country. André Greipel had been invisible through the first five stages of this race but came roaring through today.
No Cav, no Kittel, no problem. His Tour kick started at last; the Gorilla is back.
Result:
1. Greipel (LTB) in 4h 11'39"
2. Kristoff (KAT)
3. Dumoulin (ALM)
4. Renshaw (OPQ)
5. Sagan (CAN)
6. Feillu (BSE) all s.t.
Overall: No change.