As it happened: A GC shakeup in the mountains on Critérium du Dauphiné stage 6

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 6 of the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné!

Just under an hour to go before the start of stage 6, the first of three mountain stages to close out the race.

Seven riders left the race as a result of yesterday's mid-stage crash. Now a further four are already out this morning.

Kobe Goossens (Intermarché-Wanty), Bahrain Victorious pair Jasha Sütterlin and Kamil Gradek, and Laurens Huys (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) are out of the race today.

A look back at yesterday's crash-hit stage 5, which was neutralised.

A scene from the neutralised stage 5.

No results yesterday but check out the GC picture following stage 4 here.

15 minutes to go until the neutral start to the stage.

133 riders now set to start stage 6. 

Alongside Goossens, Sütterlin, Gradek, and Huys, Bahrain Victorious have also reported that Rainer Kepplinger is out of the race.

EF Education-EasyPost have reported that Harry Sweeny and Lukas Nerurkar are also out of the race.

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The riders now rolling out to start stage 6.

Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) is the latest rider to abandon the race following yesterday's crash. 132 riders now starting today.

Odd Christian Eiking (Uno-X) is also out. 131 riders remaining.

Ayuso, Eiking, Sütterlin, Gradek, Kepplinger, Nerurkar, Sweeny, Goossens all out of the race this morning.

174km to go

The flag has dropped now and stage 6 is underway.

132 riders get the mountain test underway.

An early attack by six riders from the peloton as the battle for the breakaway begins.

Stage 2 winner Magnus Cort is in the move.

He's been joined by Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), Thibault Guernalec (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Arjen Livyns (Lotto-Dstny), Mason Hollyman (Israel-Premier Tech), and Alessandro Fancellu (Q36.5).

More moves coming from behind.

That lead group has 45 seconds on the peloton during these opening kilometres.

Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič ahead of the start of stage 6.

155km to go

The leading six riders have 1:15 on the peloton currently.

The time gap is only growing as the riders head closer to the first climb of the day.

The fourth-category Côte de la Côte-Saint-André (1.9km at 6.5%) is a few kilometres away.

A look at the break of the day.

Soudal-QuickStep leading the peloton at 3:50 down on the breakaway.

Guernalec led the break over that fourth-category hill but his one point has no impact on the mountain classification.

Guernalec's teammate Mathis Le Berre has a comfortable mountain classification lead with 24 points to Filippo Conca's six.

132km to go

Rolling roads for a while now with no major climbs until the riders hit the second-category Col du Granier in just under 80km.

4:15 for the breakaway currently.

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Alex Kirsch (Lidl-Trek) has abandoned the race.

Soudal-QuickStep and Bora-Hansgrohe leading the peloton during today's stage.

The peloton is five minutes down on the break currently.

110km to go

Little change in the overall situation at the moment as the riders traverse a flatter part of the stage.

Here's what race leader Remco Evenepoel had to say ahead of today's stage...

"I'm feeling better than expected, I slept well. We'll see how I feel when I have to give it my all, but in any case it's a lot better than two months ago! I've got a slight advantage over Primož, and the gap is a bit more comfortable over the others.

"So I'm going to have to hold on to that advantage. It's an easy stage except for the last climb. I know that tomorrow and the day after will be even harder, but it'll be a good opportunity to test yourself."

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A look at the peloton during today's stage 6.

The average speed so far today has been 47kph.

75km to go

The riders now closing in on the day's intermediate sprint at Les Echelles.

Andreas Kron (Lotto-Dstny) is out of the race.

65km to go

Cort leads Fancellu and Grégoire through the sprint.

The break's advantage now reaches out to six minutes.

The riders are closing in on the second-category Col du Granier (8.9km at 5.4%).

The break's advantage is falling now as they make their way up the climb.

It's down to 4:40 at the moment.

47km to go

2.5km from the top and the leaders are still together.

Evenepoel among the peloton on the way uphill.

A 42.7kph average speed for the day so far.

45km to go

The break heads over the top of the climb.

Guernalec once again leads the way to take five points. Grégoire, Fancellu, and Hollyman follow the Frenchman. 

On the way down Hollyman and Guernalec run off the road and crash.

Both men are back up and running after taking a right-hand corner too quickly. They luckily fell onto the grass verge at the side of the road.

35km to go

Guernalec and Hollyman chasing now, though Hollyman is over a minute down.

Guernalec now back in the move.

Lidl-Trek among the teams working at the head of the peloton now.

The group is at 3:50 behind the break.

Cort at the front of the breakaway.

2:45 between break and peloton now in the valley.

24km to go

Hollyman is caught by the peloton.

There were some splits in the peloton briefly but things are back together now.

The break's advantage has fallen after the group was sent the wrong way. They lost around 30 seconds.

20km to go

2:40 for the break.

The final climb to the line is 11.2km at 8.1% so some way to go before the climbing begins.

The riders are still heading uphill to the base of the climb, however.

Lidl-Trek, Bora-Hansgrohe, and Soudal-QuickStep are still leading the peloton.

13km to go

The riders closing in on the final climb now.

A look at the final climb.

11.1km at 8.1% coming up.

11km to go

The break have 1:40 on the peloton.

Guernalec, Cort, Livyns, Fancellu, Grégoire still in the lead.

Ineos Grenadiers now take the lead in the peloton.

Grégoire makes the first move from the break, taking Cort with him.

Tao Geoghegan Hart has almost come to a stop with 9.5km to go. He's out of the running today.

9km to go

Grégoire attacks Cort. They're a minute up on the peloton.

Grégoire has 35 seconds on the main breakaway group.

Sepp Kuss reportedly already dropped from the peloton.

Fancellu caught by the peloton now.

8km to go

Grégoire out front alone now.

Ineos Grenadiers still leading the way in the peloton with Jonathan Castroviejo.

Just Grégoire and Cort left out front now.

Grégoire at the head of the race on the way up.

6km to go

Evenepoel, Roglič, Jorgenson still among the elite GC men in the peloton.

Michał Kwiatkowski and Laurens De Plus now lead the way.

40 seconds between Grégoire and the peloton.

Cort is about to be brought back by the peloton now.

5km to go

It's over for the Dane and now Laurens De Plus makes a move.

30 seconds from Grégoire to De Plus.

Aleksandr Vlasov leads the chase behind.

Not much time left for Grégoire now.

Grégoire is suffering a nosebleed, meanwhile.

4km to go

De Plus and Vlasov catch Grégoire.

Mikel Landa leads the chase behind.

Grégoire is caught and passed by the peloton.

15 seconds between the leaders and the main group.

Giulio Ciccone makes a move now at 3.5km to go. Primož Roglič chases.

3km to go

Evenepoel is making no attempt to keep up. He's just riding his own pace back in the group.

Evenepoel did say before the race that “I’m happy to discover the Dauphiné, but I will look less towards my general classification position, as this will be more a chance to return to the race rhythm and see where I’m at.” 

Notable names up in this group include Oier Lazkano, Derek Gee, Carlos Rodríguez, Jai Hindley, Pavel Sivakov, and Matteo Jorgenson.

2.5km to go

20 seconds from the lead duo back to Evenepoel.

Landa is pacing Evenepoel.

Gee, Ciccone, Roglič, Jorgenson, Rodríguez are closing in on Vlasov and De Plus.

2km to go

The groups at the front merge together now.

20 seconds from Roglič's group back to Evenepoel.

Vlasov pushing on at the front with Roglič in his wheel.

Only Ciccone can keep up!

1km to go

Roglič is racing towards the overall lead here.

27 seconds between Roglič and Evenepoel currently.

Vlasov continues to push at the front.

Ciccone still there on Roglič's wheel.

De Plus leads the chase at five seconds. Evenepoel and co are 30 seconds down.

500m to go

Evenepoel now goes solo to try and save his yellow jersey.

Vlasov keeps on pushing in the lead.

Now Roglič goes with 300 metres left.

Vlasov drops away.

Ciccone on Roglič's wheel.

Roglič sprint to the line and easily gets away from Ciccone.

Finish

Primož Roglič wins stage 6 of the Critérium du Dauphiné

Ciccone second, Vlasov third, Gee fourth.

Evenepoel crosses the line at around 45 seconds down.

Roglič takes his second win of the season and with it the GC lead.

Vlasov, Roglič, and Ciccone racing to the finish.

Primož Roglič celebrates his stage win.

Evenepoel after crossing the finish line. He's out of yellow tonight.

Look back at the final part of today's stage here.

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Primož Roglič now leads the race by 19 seconds from Remco Evenepoel. Matteo Jorgenson is in third at 58 seconds.

Here's what he had to say after the win...

"It took a really long time because I'm quite limited with my left shoulder. I couldn't reach in the pocket and I was holding it all day. But the legs are working so I can't complain.

"Finally I win a race. It's been a while. The whole team, the guys showed their commitment from the very start, from day one. Yesterday hit quite hard all of us and today they showed again a great performance. We can enjoy it today."

That's all from us for today's live coverage at the Critérium du Dauphiné. Be sure to come back for more at the weekend at the race draws to a close with stages 7 and 8.