The 163.5km stage 6 from Mâcon to Dijon, must be one other day for the sprinters, and one other probability for Mark Cavendish so as to add to his newly minted report for all-time Tour de France stage victories after his thirty fifth win on Tuesday.
Cavendish will likely be in a reinvigorated battle for the inexperienced jersey, with the Manx Missile now inside placing distance of taking it from the shoulders of Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty).
Last yr’s winner Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has but to win a stage this yr and will likely be a significant risk, as will Girmay. Other sprints like Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech), Fabio Jakobsen (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL), Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), Fernando Gaviria (Movistar), Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) and Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) are additionally hungry for his or her first wins of the Tour this yr.
The sprinters solely must recover from one categorized climb of the day, the Col du Bois Clair, solely 10km into the stage, which is unlikely to be the launching level for the break of the day with the intermediate dash at kilometre 31.1.
Once the dash is completed, the inexperienced jersey hopefuls can sit up and let a breakaway go however will preserve them on a really tight leash by the vineyards of the Côte Chalonnaise.
It must be a really sturdy breakaway to foil the quick males who can have a large 800-metre straightaway into the prefecture of the Côte-d’Or as their battleground for the stage victory.
Mark Cavendish gained his thirty fifth stage on Tuesday with out the help of his ultimate lead-out man, Michael Mørkøv, and Astana are unlikely to make the identical mistake twice. The crew had their religion affirmed and will likely be brimming with confidence on stage 6.
“The dash he did right now, you see why we believed in him. He’s one in every of these riders who can pull out one thing superb whenever you actually must,” Mørkøv mentioned on Tuesday. “Since becoming a member of Astana I used to be 100% positive that if we may simply convey him one time in sight of the end line I do know he has one thing particular in him and he may pull it off. We hoped for it the opposite day however he was caught up behind the crash.
“He nailed it. Unfortunately I acquired a bit caught out and was chasing him towards the end line. At one level I noticed he was in place and I could not assist him anymore. I needed to cross my fingers.”
When requested if Cavendish would go for extra stage wins, the Danish lead-out specialist was constructive.
“In 2021, we additionally got here to the Tour and no one thought he may win a stage, and he gained the primary stage and three extra, so why not!”
Stage 6 profile/map
Stage 6 Sprints
- Intermediate dash, km 31.1
Stage 6 Mountains
- Col du Bois Clair (1.6km at 6%), cat. 4, km 10