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Criterium du Dauphine stage 6 - Live coverage

Stage 6 profile Criterium du Dauphine

(Image credit: Amaury Sport Organisation)

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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 6 of the Critérium du Dauphiné.

The riders will roll out to start the stage in just a few minutes.

At 196.4km, today's stage is the longest of the Dauphiné.

The riders are off and into the neutral zone ahead of the official start.

Four classified climbs on today's stage, including two second-category tests. The last one, the Col de Cabre, comes 57km from the line, though, so the versatile fastmen should be able to get over just fine to contest the finish.

One major non-starter this morning as Juan Ayuso leaves the race from eighth place.

Three of the four jersey holders at the start – Pierre Rolland in the KOM jersey, Wout Van Aert in the yellow jersey, and Hugo Page in the green jersey.

A steady start to today's stage with 40km of flat roads before the first climb. Plenty of time for a breakaway to form. 

That first climb of the day will be the fourth-category Côte de Sainte-Eulalie-En-Royans (2.1km at 4.4%).

146 riders take the start today. The flag has dropped and they're off to start the stage.

192km to go

The pace is high early on and there are splits in the peloton. It looks like Ethan Hayter is on the wrong end of it here.

184km to go

There's no breakaway yet as a few riders have a slim advantage on the peloton.

Chris Froome has 'no guarantees' of Tour de France start

171km to go

Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) and Andrea Bagioli (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) are on the move now.

165km to go

The gap is only small at the moment, around 10 seconds. It's hard to see just a three-man group making up the break today.

The trio have 20 seconds now as they head towards the climb, just a few kilometres up the road.

158km to go

Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) is out of the race.

Alexis Vuillermoz (TotalEnergies) led the way over the first climb of the day with an attack.

152km to go

Vuillermoz has Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ), Mikkel Honoré (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) and Samuele Battistella (Astana Qazaqstan) for company.

Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech) was among the riders dropped on the first.

The riders are climbing again now – up the third-category Côte des Grands Goulets (5.8km at 4.7%).

More attacks at the front.

KOM leader Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-KTM) attacked over the top of the climb to get two points. Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic) was second for one point.

145km to go

Rolland and Barguil have been joined out front by Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroën), Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ), Andrea Bagioli (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Victor Lafay (Cofidis), and Valentin Ferrond (TotalEnergies).

There's no real descent after the climb. Instead it's false flats before the climb to the second-category Col de Rousset.

138km to go

Two minutes for the breakaway already.

The riders are on the false flat section following the climb now. The break's advantage is increasing.

130km to go

Now the breakaway riders start the third climb of the day, the Col de Rousset (6.6km at 5%).

More points on offer for Rolland here to extend his KOM lead further.

3:55 back to the peloton at the moment.

A look at today's breakaway.

125km to go

Long descent coming up. The break lies four minutes up on the peloton.

Ineos Grenadiers leading the peloton.

Race-ready Colnago Prototipo breaks cover

115km to go

Geoghegan Hart all but out of Tour de France contention

44.7kph average speed so far for the stage.

Jumbo-Visma are leading the peloton at the moment.

A shot of Jumbo-Visma leading the peloton.

92km to go

The break's lead is still edging up, It's 4:20 now.

Around 17km to go until the riders hit the intermediate sprint in Beaurières.

Leon Heinschke (Team DSM) has quit the race.

A look at the peloton tackling that last descent.

68km to go

The second-category Col de Cabre measures in at 9.2km at an average of 4.6%.

The breakaway out on the road on the run to the final climb of the day.

Barguil led the break over the sprint ahead of Ferron and Bouchard.

64km to go

Today's stage is likely to end in another bunch sprint, just like yesterday's stage 5.

Bruno Armirail is the first man to drop from the breakaway on the Col de Cabre. Six men remain up front.

The break reaches the top and it's another five points for Rolland. He's on 29 KOM points now after collecting 12 to add to his previous total of 17.

55km to go

Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-KTM), Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroën), Andrea Bagioli (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Victor Lafay (Cofidis), and Valentin Ferron (TotalEnergies) left up front at the moment.

47km to go

The peloton is closing in on the flat roads following the descent.

35km to go

Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM) has abandoned the race.

A look at the breakaway on that final climb of the day.

It's still Jumbo-Visma and Ineos Grenadiers doing the work at the head of the peloton. Several other teams such as Bora-Hansgrohe and Trek-Segafredo are also up there working.

The breakaway riders are still taking turns and pushin on but they're losing seconds here and there. 2:50 now.

28km to go

Despite the efforts of Trek, Bora and Jumbo, the break still lies 2:50 up the road...

A shot of the breakaway racing up the final climb of the day. Can they hang on today?

22km to go

Jumbo-Visma now with their full squad on the front working.

UAE Team Emirates moving up too. Ineos behind Jumbo.

UAE and BikeExchange have one man each on the front. It seems like it's quite late and not really enough..

18km to go

Contenders for the win today if the peloton does manage to bring the break back:

16km to go

There is one lump remaining before the line but nothing hard enough to really throw off the breakaway. 

Out front, it's hard to say that any of the riders are particularly fast in the sprints. The likes of Bouchard, Rolland, Lafay, Bagioli, Barguil, and Ferron are better on the climbs.

13km to go

Chris Froome stops with a puncture. He gets a bike change and gets rolling again.

11km to go

2:05 between the break and peloton now.

Still six up front.

10km to go

Now it's just a matter of time before the breakaway riders begin to attack each other. It doesn't look as though the peloton will be able to bring them back.

Back in the peloton a UAE Team Emirates rider puts his hands on green jersey wearer Hugo Page. He has words with the Frenchman and then reaches out to push him again.

7km to go

The breakaway men have rolled over that last lump and are now heading downhill towards the finish.

The UAE rider might've been Molano. Unconfirmed, though.

Harry Sweeny (Lotto Soudal) goes on the attack from the peloton.

5km to go

No attacks up front but the riders are looking around at each other as they continue on.

Bouchard tries a move now. Bagioli gets across to him with Lafay.

Jumbo and Ineos domestiques Ganna and Laporte drop out the back of the peloton.