Marcel Kittel celebrated his second victory of the 2017 Tour de France in Troyes, a town which played host to a stage finish for the first time in 17 years. Once again, the closing kilometers were impossible to control by the sprinters’ teams due to the nervousness and fierce battle for positioning, so when it came to crunch time, after a technical and sinuous last kilometer, it was every man for himself in the 400m-long finishing straight.
Quick-Step Floors’ sprinter was brought to the front by a strong lead-out train comprising Jack Bauer, Fabio Sabatini, Zdenek Stybar and Matteo Trentin, who moved to the pointy end of the peloton once the escapees had been reeled in by the fantastic Julien Vermote, who once again put in a gargantuesque effort to keep the escapees in constant check.
Kittel accelerated with 200 meters to go on the left side while all the other contenders were crammed on the right side of the road, and with a perfectly-timed effort scored his second win at the 2017 Tour de France, by a bike length.
“I was really confident in myself today. I talked to the guys and told them we should take the lead with five kilometers to go and defend our position, which they did. That also meant that Fabio Sabatini had to start early and he once again he did a very good job. We can all be proud of this victory”, said Marcel right after crossing the finish line.
“In the sprint, I tried to follow Arnaud Demare, but then I found an opening and could start my sprint one second ahead of the rest, which gave me the chance to pass them on the left side. You know, despite two of the main sprinters being out of the race, it still was very hectic and tense today. A victory doesn’t come easy and I don’t take anything for granted, so to win again gives me a special feeling”, explained Marcel, only the second German rider to reign supreme in Troyes.
Dumare Continues to Impress
FDJ’s Arnaud Demare very nearly pipped Kittel at the line, but despite the second place finish, the Frenchman still leads the points classification and gets to wear the green jersey for another day. Friday’s seventh stage looks to be the last chance for sprinters for a while, so a good showing in Nuit – St. Georges could see him holding onto the points lead for some time.
Yates Retain White Jersey
After climbing to the best young rider lead on yesterday’s summit finish, Paris-Nice and Tour of Romandie stage winner Simon Yates has successfully retained the white jersey after stage six.
A long and hot day on the road finished with the expected bunch sprint, Yates rolled safely across the line in 60th place.
“On a day like this it’s not so difficult on the body, it’s more in the head with the stress of fighting for position and making sure you’re in the front and not behind any crashes or splits in the bunch,” Yates explained after a five-hour day in the saddle at over 35 degrees.
G.C. Leaders Stay Protected
After a couple of days of what looked like internal strife, Team Sky’s Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas crossed the line together safely, with the Froome retaining his 12-second advantage over the Welshman.
Team Sky Sport Director Nicolas Portal was more than happy with the way the day panned out.
He explained to Eurosport: “It’s one more day in yellow so that’s pretty good. It was an easy day in that we didn’t need to do a job working on the front again. At the end there were no crashes and the finish wasn’t that technical. The wind was picking up a little bit through the stage, but at the end it seemed the pressure dropped down and there was less wind. That made it better, as with 20km to go there could have been some cross-winds potentially. It was a good day.”
BMC Racing Team also retained a strong presence at the front of the bunch to protect Richie Porte. In doing so, Porte crossed the line safely in the bunch and retains fifth on the General Classification, 39 seconds behind race leader Froome
CAS Rejects Sagan’s Appeal
We’ve already covered it in more detail, but BORA-hansgrohe received notice today from the Court of Arbitration for Sport that they have rejected Peter Sagan’s appeal for reinstatement to the race.
BORA-hansgrohe did not receive word until the middle of today’s stage. The team has stated that they will refrain from making any comments at this time, but will instead issue an official statement on the decision in due course after all of the relevant information is known and studied by its legal team.
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