Dylan Groenewegen wins Stage 6 of the Tour de France by a nose

Thursday’s sixth stage of the 111th Tour de France was the third bunch sprint, and whereas Biniam Girmay and Mark Cavendish famously claimed the first two, singularly beak-protected Jayco-AlUla rider Dylan Groenewegen earned his sixth Tour victory, the Dutch champion edging out Jasper Philipsen. Philipsen was later relegated for deviating from his sprint line and boxing in Wout van Aert. Tadej Pogačar had a worrying few kilometres in the middle of the route, but stayed in yellow. For the second day running, Guillaume Boivin was top Canadian, finishing 27th.

The Course

With a Cat. 4 almost immediately after the start in Mâcon and then a whole lot of flat road leading to the finish in Dijon, this mustardless stage was sure to end in a sprint.

Another flat day at the #TDF2024, from Mâcon to Dijon.

Known for its mustard, Dijon made its first Tour de France appearance in 1906, when René Pottier took his second victory of that edition, cementing his place at the top of the GC, which he eventually won. pic.twitter.com/LYFFDMThXH

— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) July 4, 2024

Thursday’s question was whether Philipsen could finally get off the mark. Winner of four stages last year and two in the 2022 edition, the Belgian had yet to score.

Jonas Abrahamsen bounced away after the gun in search of the single KOM point, and he brought along chaos bunny hopper Alex Zingle for company. Abrahamsen succeeded and then the duo sat up before the day’s intermediate sprint. Green jersey Biniam Girmay led the crash-worn Mads Pedersen at the top of the points classification. At the intermediate sprint, Philipsen was fastest, Girmay second and Pedersen third.

With 80 km remaining, echelons formed in the crosswinds, Visma-Lease a Bike creating a split and leaving Tadej Pogačar isolated in the first group. Mark Cavendish suffered a mechanical and had to chase back on, somewhat miffed with the commissaires for daring to challenge the way he did it. Another bike change meant he had to sew it up twice.

Did they send Mark Cavendish home? Him drafting behind the race directors car doesn't help LOL. Classic Cav is back! #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/koJA0YYIA0

— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) July 4, 2024

The peloton was nervous in the winds. Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE-Emirates led the way to keep their GC fellows safe from further echelon shenanigans. A crash under 7 km remaining took down a pink EF Education-Easypost rider. There was plenty of slicing and dicing as Mustardville drew closer.

Uno-X led under the red kite. It was a messy sprint but Groenewegen beat Philipsen by a nose. Girmay was third–he leads Pedersen by 38 points in the green jersey competition.

Friday gets back to GC business with the first of two time trials; the first chrono is 25.3 km and has a hill in its middle.

2024 Tour de France Stage 6
1) Dylan Groenewegen (The Netherlands/Jayco-AlUla 3:31:55
2) Biniam Girmay (Eritrea/Intermarche-Wanty) s.t.
3) Fernando Gaviria (Colombia/Movistar) s.t.
27) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) s.t.
32) Derek Gee (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) s.t.
110) Hugo Houle (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +0:32

2024 Tour de France GC
1) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) 26:47:19
2) Remco Evenepoel (Belgium/Soudal-QuickStep) +0:45
3) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Visma-Lease a Bike) +0:50
21) Derek Gee (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +4:47