Cédric Pineau scores after long battle

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It was the day of the French pro teams as Cédric Pineau of Roubaix-Lille-Métropole soloed to victory in stage six at Iffendic. While Pineau took stage honours, a lengthy battle in the centre of Brittany exhausted the Rabobank Continental team of race leader Jetse Bol who eventually lost the jersey to Bbox Bouygues Telecom's Franck Bouyer who finished in a 13-rider group 15 seconds behind Pineau.

For Pineau, the victory was his second win as a professional after Paris-Troyes last month. "It's my first time winning in a stage race," said the former Ag2r-La Mondiale rider. "And it happens on the longest day. It was a very hard and competitive race. This is a nice reward for the team work we've done." Roubaix-Lille-Métropole had already won stage three of the Tour de Bretagne with Benoît Daeninck.

"This is unexpected," Bouyer said. "I came here for accumulating seven days of racing, not for winning although it's always at the back of the mind. I'm very happy to be leading a race."

Shall Bouyer win the Tour de Bretagne, it would have a lot of meaning for him. The Frenchman's last win was Paris-Camembert six years ago just before he was sidelined by the UCI for using modiafinil, the only medicine that prevented him from falling asleep on his bike due to his narcolepsy. He was eventually allowed to resume racing in 2009 and was again given a contract by Bbox Bouygues Telecom.

Stage six proved to be an aggressive day of racing since the start. After less than 20 kilometres a group of 19 riders went clear. The escapees included Sander Oostlander (Van Vliet), 2nd on GC, Johan Le Bon (Bretagne-Schuller), 3rd, Arkimedes Arguelyes Rodriges (Itera-Katusha), 4th and Julien Antomarchi (La Pomme-Marseille), 5th, but not Bol who honestly commented after the finish, "I was feeling very bad at the beginning of the stage. I was just not good enough to be up there until I recovered and got better later on."

Rabobank Continental and Thüringer Energie, the team of double stage winner John Degenkolb, combined forces in the chase but they lost 20 seconds when their pursuit was disrupted by a herd of cows which found its way onto the race course. The peloton's deficit increased to two minutes but the pursuers found good fortune when Oostlander flatted and lost contact with the breakaway. As a result, the Van Vliet assisted Rabobank Continental and Thüringer Energie to pursue the escapees and after 100 kilometres of racing the break was absorbed.

Straight away, another attack went off the front of the peloton. Former U23 French champion Arnaud Courteille of U Nantes-Atlantique was again one of the breakaway riders, as was Perrig Quéméneur of Bbox Bouygues Telecom who was another threat to the race leader.

By the time a new breakaway of 17 riders was formed with 50km to go, the Rabobank Continental team was exhausted. "We decided not to drive anymore," Bol said. "We had done so for five days. This is a young team. There is a moment for the end of the work."

Itera-Katusha and Van Vliet led the bunch but the gap stayed over three minutes. It was game over for the top seven riders on GC. Bouyer became the virtual leader but he had to monitor the moves of Renaud Dion from Roubaix and Dimitri Le Boulch from BigMat-Auber 93.

"Since we are the only Pro Continental team, many riders believe most of the work is up to us," Bouyer complained after taking the lead with one day to go.

The Bbox Bouygues Telecom rider leads Renaud Dion (Roubaix Lille Metropole) by seven seconds and Dimitri Le Boulch (Big Mat - Auber 93) by 18 seconds going into the concluding 148.4km stage from Iffendic to Dinan, featuring the difficult cobbled finale at the finish.