Arashiro and Barta, away under the sun
198 riders started stage 6 at Arpajon-sur-Cère. It hadn't happened since 2000 that the peloton was still as numerous as on day 1 after five stages. Yukiya Arashiro (Lampre-Merida) and Jan Barta (Bora-Argon 18) rode away after three kilometers of racing. Their maximum time gap was recorded before the intermediate sprint (5.30 at km 71) where Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie) was the fastest of the peloton ahead of Michael Matthews, Peter Sagan and Marcel Kittel, all hunting for the green jersey. It was a long and hot day on the saddle. Several teams swapped turns at the head of the peloton to maintain the deficit between three and four minutes: Dimension Data, Etixx-Quick Step and Lotto-Soudal.
It's Cav' again!
Direct Energie took the command of the peloton to bring the breakaway back with 35km to go. It was all together 22km before Montauban. Arashiro and Barta have covered 165km at the front but without any illusion of winning as the main pack kept them under control. Team Sky moved up to the front 12km away from the finishing line. Lotto-Soudal, LottoNL-Jumbo, Katusha and Etixx-Quick Step were among the teams who tried to keep the peloton under control before and after the flamme rouge, but Mark Cavendish made his way to the front by himself to pass Marcel Kittel in the last 100 metres.
