As it happened: Late solo attack denies sprinters to win stage 6 of Paris-Nice
More hills on the menu and a late second-category test on the road to Apt
Hello and welcome to stage six of Paris-Nice!
Once again, punchy hills are on the agenda, with four official climbs to be tackled in total, all of them rated either category two or category three. But the total elevation gain is down from yesterday’s 3,020m to a more modest 2,100m.
Though there is a tough climb averaging 5% for 4km at the end of the stage, it’s followed by a short descent to the finish in Apt, which might take the edge off some of its impact.
All this means that Jonas Vingegaard might not be eyeing up a third stage win in a row. Yesterday his Visma-Leasea Bike did a lot of work throughout the day to ensure the break was controlled and that Vingegaard was set up for the stage win, which he duly delivered.
For a reminder of how Jonas Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike triumphed yesterday, have a read of our report from yesterday.
The riders are on the move and making their way to kilometre 0.
It's a warm, dry day here in France, and spirits appeared to be high among the Uno-X Mobility riders, pictured here messing around with a anana this morning.
Race leader Jonas Vingegaard waiting at the unofficial start.
Given the increased likelihood of a break surviving today, and remembering how long it raged for yesterday, we can anticipate another intense, drawn-out battle as riders try to get into the day’s break.
Four riders who finished yesterday have not made it to the start today - Oscar Onley, Iván Romeo, Julien Bernard and Rick Pluimers.
Onley had been looking so good until his crash on stage three, and even yesterday had the legs to help his teammate Kévin Vauquelin on the final climb, but that crash must be taking too much of a toll.
Actually, it turns out that Onley has abandoned due to an illness, rather than lingering injuries from that crash. The Scot can't catch a break right now.
Six attackers have come together and got a small gap over the peloton.
The peloton at the start a little earlier.
That sextet has been brought back.
Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Sébastien Grignard (Lotto Intermarché) are the latest couple of riders to get a small lead.
More riders are trying to join them.
The riders are on the first climb of the day, the Côte de Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.
The climb has put pad to Bissegger and Gringnard’s hopes - they’ve both been caught.
Ewen Costiou was the first to the top of the Côte de Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, from Will Barta and Quentin Pacher. None of these riders are in contention for the polka-dot jersey.
It's another action-packed day of cycling, with stage 5 of Tirreno-Adriatico also taking place. Be sure to follow along with our Live coverage of that race too.
140KM TO GO
The attacks continue to come, but still no break has formed. The road will be pretty much flat for the upcoming 50km too, so there’s no obvious point for a selection to be made.
Niklas Märkl of Picnic PostNL has abandoned the race.
A group of four is the latest to try their luck, with Josh Tarling, Igor Arrieta, Arthur Kluckers and Steff Cras present.
NSN have taken control of the chase at the front of the peloton. That's interesting - do they believe that their leader Biniam Girmay could be in contention for the stage win today, if they can control the break?
More riders have attacked out of the peloton in pursuit of the four leaders.
Oscar Onley is today's biggest addition to the list of abandons. Here's moe on his departure.
The four riders leading the race.
There were nine riders between the peloton and the four leaders but they've now been brought back.
Ewen Costiou had been trying to bridge over to the leaders by himself, but that was a tall order, and he’s been swallowed up by the peloton.
Now it's Cofidis who are pacing at the front of the peloton. Like NSN, they also have a sprinter who could potentially survive the climbs, in Bryan Coquard. Is there a feeling among teams in the peloton that this stage could be decided by a reduced bunch sprint?
They won't be taking on any of them today, but the riders can see mountains on the horizon, that awaits them come the final weekend of stages.
We can probably start referring to these four leaders as the day’s break now. They’re lead has grown to 1:30, and things appear to have calmed down in the peloton.
The four escapees earlier, as they were first establishing their lead.
Now the break has formed, it’s a good time to reflect on one of the fall-outs from yesterday. Following criticism earlier in the season from UAE Team Emirates - XRG’s João Almeida that accused Visma-Lease a Bike riders of being too quick to pull out of races, stage winner Jonas Vingegaard made some barbed comments pointing out Almeida’s absence from this race. There’s often tension between these two teams, and it seems another feud is brewing.
The four riders leading the race.
Cofidis are still the team leading the peloton. That's a big statement from a team you wouldn't necessarily expect to be among the favourites for today.
Jonas Vingegaard in the peloton, who received great praise from his teammate Victor Campanaerts for the way he rode for victor yesterday.
The route is about to get harder and hillier, starting with the category three Côte de Bonnieux, which they are currently riding up an unclassified hill to the foot of.
The peloton, being pulled along by Cofidis.
Josh Tarling is clearly the most powerful man on the flat in this break, as one of the world's best time trialists. He might struggle more in relation to superior climbers Arrieta and Cras, now that the terrain is changing.
Pinarello Q36.5's Fabio Christen has become the latest rider to abandon the race.
The breakaway riders have begun tackling the 4.1% slopes of the 2.5km Côte de Bonnieux.
Simon Dehairs of Alpecin-Premier Tech has abandoned the race, becomming the 32nd to do so since the start of the race last weekend.
Casper Pedersen didn't manage to make it into the break today, meaning he doesn't have the chance to take over again from Jonas Vingegaard at the top of that classification. These are what they look like now:
2 Casper Pedersen 18 points
3 Mathis Le Berre 14 points
Still it's a lone Cofidis rider who leads the race, with a mass of Visma-Lease a Bike behind him.
The work of Cofidis continues to eat into the break’s lead. They’re now only about 1:25 behind.
Benjamin Thomas is the Cofidis rider doing the work. He’s making use of his huge engine to keep the breakaway under control.
A reminder that you can follow today's Tirreno-Adriatico with us too, which is coming to a close now.
It’s still hard to know what way this stage is going to go. While it appears likely the break will be caught, what kind of riders will attack on the final two climbs? And will they be brought back for a reduced sprint finish? The parcours is finely balanced so that things look very unpredictable.
Benjamin Thomas has at last finished his shift. There was an increase in pace in the peloton ahead of a corner, causing him to drop back.
There’s now no single team controlling the peloton, though the likes of Cofidis, Visma-Lease a Bike and Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe are up towards the front.
TotalEnergies and Bahrain-Victorious are also rivalling Cofidis, Visma and Red Bull for the prime position at the front as the peloton approaches the foot of the Col de l'Aire dei Masco.
The pace in the peloton is steady as they ascend, with no team yet to take control.
The breakaway quartet, who continue to lead the race.
The Col de l'Aire dei Masco is a long climb, lasting over 7km, but its gradients averaging about 4% aren’t really enough to cause much damage.
There's been an attack in the peloton, by Søren Kragh Andersen.
Andersen took advantage of the slow pace in the peloton, on a shallow stretch of this climb.
Andersen is riding for Lidl-Trek, who are desperate to rescue something from this race after the unfortunate abandonment of Juan Ayuso.
Andersen is 20 seconds ahead of the peloton, but still a distant minute behind the leaders.
Andersen after his attack.
Andersen reaches the top 30 seconds later, and the peloton about 55 seconds later.
Cras has lost contact with the other three leaders on the descent.
There were no more attacks after Andersen's on the climb, though the pace increased in anticipation of the descent, among those looking to get the best position.
The peloton on the climb.
Andersen has caught Cras.
The peloton is being led by a line of three Cofidis riders. They must be feeling very confident in Bryan Coquard's chances in a sprint finish.
The three remaining riders out front are doing a great descent. They’ve extended their lead to the two chasers to one minute, and 1:15 to the peloton. Could they yet have a chance of making it to the finish?
Andersen and Cras have just been brought back by the peloton.
Tejada has had a flat tyre.
The riders are climbing again, up an uncharacterized ascent. There's an intermediate sprint at the top.
Lidl-Trek are leading the peloton, with Danish national champion Søren Kragh Andersen. The Dane is clearly not too tired despite attacking earlier.
Lidl presumably are riding for Vacek, who is quick in a sprint and can get over climbs like these.
The leading trio has reached the top of this unclassified climb, swallowing up the bonus seconds available at the sprint.
That leaves just one more climb to ride up - the category three Côte de Saignon, which rises for 4km at 5%, before a rapid descent to the finish in Apt.
The break still has a lead of about one minute. They're digging in deep to give themslves a chance of the stage win.
They will begin the climb in just a few minutes.
A lot of sprinters are still in the peloton, including stage one winner Luke Lamperti.
Lidl's pace approaching the climb is so high that gaps are opening in the peloton on the flat.
Biniam Girmay is another sprinter present, and hasn't been caught out on the splits.
The leaders start the final climb, with an advantage of just 30 seconds.
Visma take over at the front of the peloton, as some of the splits that opened up ar undone.
Tarling and Arrieta have dropped Kluckers.
Kluckers has been caught by the peloton, which is being led by Lidl-Trek again.
Two Visma riders are behind Lidl's Kamna. Could Vingegaard try an attack on this climb?
Girmay is dropped! That could be it for his hopes of winning today.
Ineos' sprinter Watson is also being dropped.
The pace is now being set by Visma-Lease a Bike, specifically Victor Campanaerts.
Potential stage winners are being dropped one by one. Alpecin’s Jensen Plowright is the latest to go.
And now Lamperti in the green jersey is struggling!
Lamperti is clinging on at the back, with just 1km left to ride. He might stay in contention if he can just hang on.
Harold Tejada has counter-attacked over the top.
The two riders left from the day's break were caught as those attacks were happening, meaning Tejada now leads the race.
Tejada has a gap of a few seconds, with just 3km left to ride.
The chase group behind him is still large, and getting larger as more return to it.
There are at least 20 riders in the chase.
The GC guys are in the chase group, as are fast finishers like Coquard, Trentin, Vacek and Pithie.
Dorion Godon won the sprint for second-place ahead of Lewis Askey in the chase group 6 seconds behind Tejada.
After all of Cofidis' work, Coquard could only manage fourth place.
This victory is only the second in the career of Harold Tejada, and much more prestigious than the stage he managed at the Tour of Colombia two years ago. It’s a win that’s been a long time coming, though, having been a regular feature on the climbs of stage races these past few seasons, and starting 2026 on fire with fourth overall at the UAE Tour.
Tejada chose an opportune moment to make his move, attacking just as the impetus of Lenny Martinez’s initial move had gone out.
One rider notably missing from the top ten, languishing instead in eleventh place, is Vacek. His Lidl team looked confident of his success, doing much of the work at the front of the peloton for the final kilometres of the race.
There was an interesting moment on the final climb just before the climbs ignited the action, as Axel Zingle was dropped out of the main group.
The Frenchman could be heard shouting ‘Victor!’ into his race radio, to his teammate Victor Campanaerts who was setting the pace at the front of the peloton. He was apparently unaware that he had dropped the teammate who, with his fast finish, he was presumably working for.
Tejada's winning margin was ultimately quite a large one, illustrating just what a great effort it was from him in the finale.
French national champion Lewis Askey took third in the sprint just behind Dorio Godon. In hindsight, it might have been for him, rather than Biniam Girmay, that NSN worked for earlier in the stage.
Thanks for joining us for stage 6, on what was the biggest day in the career of Jarold Tejada to date.
Tomorrow, we’re all set for the mountains, as the race heads into the Alps. At least, that’s the plan - bad weather could yet see revisions. Be sure to check Cyclinnews for updates, and whatever the route ends up looking like, we will, as ever, bring you live coverage of it.
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