Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes stage 6 LIVE – 60 riders form massive breakaway as peloton splits on first of three big mountain days

There are some real GC threats in this group of Baudin's lead, so it wouldn't be strange to see EF come to the front to help pace soon.

Luke Tuckwell started the days just 1:03 down, Bruno Armirail 1:20, and Guillaume Martin 1:51.

140km to go

The big front group is working well together, maintaining their lead of 1:45 over the Decathlon-led chasing peloton.

And the second half: Yannis Voisard, Robin Donzé, Lennart Jasch, Roland Thalmann, Matteo Trentin (Tudor), Nikias Arndt, Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious), Lars Cras, Matthew Fox, Mathieu Kockelmann, Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché), Jordan Jegat, Thibaut Guernalec, Matteo Vercher (Total Energies), Jose Felix Parra, Sergi Darder, Alex Diaz (Caja Rural), Nadav Raisberg (NSN), Alessandro Covi, Felix Engelhardt (Jayco AlUla), Bryan Coquard, Sam Maisonobe, Louis Rouland (Cofidis), Clement Braz Afonso, Maxime Decomble, Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet, Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ United), Gal Glivar, Michael Gogl, Hugo Houle (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Robbe Dhondt (Picnic PostNL).

Here's the first half of those riders: Benoît Cosnefroy, Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Edoardo Affini, Bruno Armirail, Per Strand Hagenes (Visma-Lease a Bike), Quinn Simmons, Toms Skujins (Lidl-Trek), Dorian Godon, Josh Tarling (Nectompany Ineos), Callum Thornley, Luke Tuckwell, Maxim Van Gils, Gianni Vermeersch (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Tobias Halland Johannessen, Martin Bugge Urianstad, Anthon Charmig, Anders Skaarseth (Uno-X Mobility), Alastair Mackellar, Georg Steinhauser, Max Walker (EF Education-EasyPost), Ethan Hayter, Pepijn Reinderink, Martin Svrcek, Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal-QuickStep), Nicola Conci, Chirstian Rodriguez, Simone Velasco (XDS Astana), Pablo Castrillo, and Raul Garcia Pierna (Movistar).

Confirmation that there actually are 60 riders in the leading group on stage 6.

Uno-X Mobility are pulling in the front of the race, with four of their guys making it into the almost 60-rider strong split. Decathlon continue to chase behind.

160km to go

It's still not completely clear just how many riders are in the front split, but almost all of the big teams are represented by at least one rider.

Here's a look at some of the early action, with Callum Thornley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) pulling on the front.

Seixas, Del Toro, Jorgenson, Skjelmose, Ayuso, and Vauquelin are all in the second group on the road, still 1:35 down on the break.

170km to go

The peloton has split in two early on stage 6. Most of the big GC names are in the second group, with Seixas' Decathlon team working on the front to try and bring back a one-minute deficit.

Even without much uphill terrain to get away on, there are several early attacks and splits in the peloton.

For a deeper dive into how the general classification looks heading into this vital trio of closing stages, read our Deputy Editor Patrick Fletcher's very through GC analysis:

Ineos with leadership issues, Seixas and Del Toro with ground to make up – GC analysis ahead of mountain triple-header in Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

A reminder of how the GC currently looks at the start of stage 6. EF's Alex Baudin still leads the race after his breakaway win on day one, with Netcompany Ineos' co-leaders Oscar Onley and Kévin Vauquelin, and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) in strking distance.

The likes of Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) came into the race as the main favourites, but they have work to do over these next three mountain days.

Lidl-Trek are also sat nicely in fifth and sixth with Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose.

There's no climbs at the start as there has been the past two days, so the break will be trying to form on flatter terrain.

Stage 4 runner-up Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) has also abandoned the race.

182.3km to go

Racing is fully underway on stage 6 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes!

If you're feeling as though you recognise today's start location, Saint-Vulbas, you aren't mistaken as it was the site of one of cycling's most important victories, though I am biased as a Brit.

It's where Mark Cavendish finally broke the record he held alongside Eddy Merckx for the most Tour de France stage wins, claiming his 35th back on stage 5 of the 2024 edition to stand alone.

Unofficial start

Riders are gone from the unofficial start in Saint Vulbas. The racing is expected to kick off fully after 10 minutes of neutral riding to kilometre 0.

Van Aert isn't the only non-starter on Friday morning. Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) has pulled out after his return to racing, now focusing on Tour de France preparation, Matevž Govekar (Bahrain-Victorious) and Hannes Wilksch (Tudor) – both fell ill overnight, and Pau Martí Soriano (NSN) has also bad to abandon due to illness.

His home nation Mexico kicked off the World Cup with a bang at home last night, beating South Africa at the iconic Azteca Stadium, but can national champion Isaac del Toro make his mark on the first of three big mountain stages?

In spite of his brutal, high-speed crash a couple of days ago, British Sam Watson has soldiered on to be at the start for these final three mountain stages.

Just over 20 minutes until the start with the sun shining down on the riders during sign-on.

Here's a look at where the riders will be racing today, heading east to the summit finish at Crest-Voland, a 5.9km climb which averages 7.7% gradients.

There has been some news even before the stage's start, with yesterday's stage winner Wout van Aert pulling out due to lingering issues from a pre-race crash:

Wout van Aert pulls out of Tour of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes before stage 6 due to pre-race training crash injuries

Today is set to be a big day for the GC riders, with a duo of category 1 climbs in the last 20km bringing them to the line on Friday.

Hello and welcome back to our live coverage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône Alpes for stage 6, a 182.3km mountain day from Saint-Vulbas to Crest-Voland.