Tour de France 2015: Stage 6

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of the 102nd Tour de France. Stage 6 sees the riders travel 191.5km from Abbeville to Le Havre with racing getting underway at 12:40 local time.

Tour de France Stage 5 report
The Cyclingnews Tour de France Podcast episode 6
Tour de France 2015 stage 6 forum
Tour de France 2015 preview
Tour de France 2015 - stage-by-stage guide
Tour de France 2015 start list

Good morning everyone and welcome aboard our live coverage of stage 6 of the Tour de France. Racing today gets underway at 12:40 local time and we'll be bringing you all the build-up and talking points before taking you through every step of the action. 

Today's stage starts out in Abbeville before hugging the English Channel coastline all the way to Le Havre. Perhaps the best place to start is with our full stage preview. Take a look at what's in store by clicking here.

A quick recap of yesterday, when André Greipel surged past Mark Cavendish and Alexander Kristoff to take a second stage win of this year's Tour. It was a brilliant effort from the German, who looks in formidable form.

Read our report from what was another weather-beaten, crash-strewn stage: Tour de France: Greipel wins the sprint in Amiens

Yesterday served up a further dose of disappointment to Cavendish after Etixx-QuickStep made a mess of things in the sprint on stage 2. The Manxman was outpaced by Greipel and the team's directeur sportif Brian Holm told Cyclingnews that they made another mistake in making Cavendish do so much work on the cobbles the previous day. Read more using the link below:

Tour de France: Holm takes blame for Cavendish's defeat in Amiens 

Onboard videos

Loads of riders have cameras on their bikes now and although the footage can often be mind-numingly dull, sprints and crashes undoubtedly make for gripping viewing. 

There were crashes aplenty yesterday and an exciting bunch kick. You can see it all captured from the riders' perspectives right here. 

Here's the profile for today's stage. Notice the kick up at the end. There's a 900-metre stretch of seven per cent before which takes riders to within 500 metres of the line. From there it's still slightly uphill in a grippy drag to the line. 

In short, it's perfectly suited to weed out the pure sprinters. 

The riders are moving. The neutral start has been given and soon the flag will drop and the racing will get underway. 

A day for Bryan Coquard?

The Frenchman crashed twice yesterday but fancies his chances today. Here's what Europcar directeur sportif Andy Flickinger told letour.com this morning.

“I just spoke with him in the bus”, the Frenchman told letour.com. “He's super motivated. He has ticked this stage. With the digital cartography we have at our disposal now, we have a precise idea of the finale. Thierry Marie [stage winner at Le Havre in 1991 and originally from Normandy] also gave us important indications.

"It's an uphill finish with a gradient of about 7%. This is a stage for punchy riders. We'll have to watch out for riders like Peter Sagan and John Degenkolb. We're not satisfied with our early part of the Tour but we still believe in our chances to win stages and also to do well on GC. Today's stage can be a breakthrough.”

A day for Bryan Coquard?

The Frenchman crashed twice yesterday but fancies his chances today. Here's what Europcar directeur sportif Andy Flickinger told letour.com this morning.

“I just spoke with him in the bus”, the Frenchman told letour.com. “He's super motivated. He has ticked this stage. With the digital cartography we have at our disposal now, we have a precise idea of the finale. Thierry Marie [stage winner at Le Havre in 1991 and originally from Normandy] also gave us important indications.

"It's an uphill finish with a gradient of about 7%. This is a stage for punchy riders. We'll have to watch out for riders like Peter Sagan and John Degenkolb. We're not satisfied with our early part of the Tour but we still believe in our chances to win stages and also to do well on GC. Today's stage can be a breakthrough.”

The riders going through the streets of Abbeville during the départ fictif.

And we're off! The flag has dropped and the racing begins. 

188 riders are currently out on the road. Michael Albasini, who fractured his arm yesterday, hasn't started the stage as the Orica-GreenEdge team continues to deplete. 

Luis Angel Maté has immediately gone off the front on his own. 

All back together after 4 kilometres. 

The last time a Tour de France stage started in Abbeville? It was in 2012 and none other than André Greipel was victorious that day in the town of Rouen, not far from Le Havre. 

We have a new breakaway attempt. A trio of Perrig Quéméneur, Kenneth Van Bilsen (Cofidis) and Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN-Qhubeka) are off the front. 

@jeremycwhittle Thu, 9th Jul 2015 12:04:23

Teklehaimanot will have noticed those three fourth-category climbs on today's parcours. The Eritrean won the polka-dot jersey in the Critérium du Dauphiné in June in similar style and will be keen to wear the jersey for a period of the Tour. With three points on offer in total today, he would move into the lead of the mountains classification if he crests the climbs first. 

The breakaway is sticking and the escapees have 1 minute 15 on the bunch with the gap ever growing. 

As if Astana weren't already playing the role of pantomime villains convincingly enough, one of their riders appears to have hit a six-year-old girl in the head with a bidon yesterday, leaving her needing stitches. 

@a_thomas_commin Thu, 9th Jul 2015 12:07:55

181km remaining from 191km

At the 10 kilometre mark the escape trio has a lead of 4:15. 

This is a good time, if you haven't already, to listen to the latest installment of the Cyclingnews Tour de France podcast, in association with British Eurosport. Our reporters on the ground in France discuss today's stage as well as bringing you reaction, interviews, and analysis from yesterday. 

Tour de France podcast episode 6

As the break extends its advantage to more than seven minutes, its worth doffing our caps to Quémeneur, who had already clocked up 260 kilometres worth of breakaway time before today. That's the most of any rider in this year's Tour and he's only adding to his lead here. 

The road is rising for the break but their not on one of the three categorised climbs yet. The first - the Côte de Dieppe - comes after 72km, then the Côte de Pourville-sur-Mer comes 5.5km later. The final climb comes 30km from the finish in Le Havre. They are all fourth-category and shouldn't cause much of a shake up. 

Could Bjarne Riis save the Cult Energy Pro Cycling team?

Cycling news Editor-in-chief Daniel Benson has an interesting story on the possibility of Bjarne Riis returning to cycling to help out the Cult Energy Pro team, who are without a sponsor for 2016. You can read it all right here.

The peloton is leaving the Picardie region and heading into Normandie with a deficit of nine minutes.

If there's a stage suited to John Degenkolb it's this one. The German can cope with the uphill drags to the finish, as he showed at the Tour of Dubai this year. 

Here's what he had to say to letour.com this morning:

“The team is motivated to fight for today's stage victory The finale suits me quite well. All day is really hard, it's always up and down and we're going to spend the whole day on the coast. It will make the whole stage very hard. The intermediate sprint is also quite hard today. It is uphill and about 2 kms long, not as steep as the final climb but the final climb is pretty short. I hope that I'll have good legs in the finale, that I can save energy during the stage and be there at the end.”

This is now the biggest breakaway advantage of this year's Tour de France. The trio has 11:30 and that's showing no signs of stabilising just yet. Teklehaimanot is the best-placed rider on GC but at 26:54 the peloton are happy to amble along for now. 

163km remaining from 191km

12:30 for the leaders now and Lotto-Soudal, the team of green jersey wearer André Greipel, reckon it's getting silly. They're on the front of the bunch. 

Here's the bike of one of those Lotto-Soudal men, Adam Hansen, with a special message on the top tube. The 34-year-old has finished every Grand Tour on the calendar since the Vuelta a España in 2011. 

Giant-Alpecin have joined Lotto-Soudal in exerting some control over the lead of the breakaway trio. They're confident their man John Degenkolb can take the spoils today. As a result, the gap has fallen to 11:15

Marc Madiot Blog: Cyclists are warriors to be respected

If you haven't read it already, FDJ boss Marc Madiot has written his latest blog for Cyclingnews. The Frenchman is always good value and has some really insightful things to say about cycling's links with World War I after yesterday's stage passed through the Somme. 

You can find it right here. 

@Cyclingnewsfeed Thu, 9th Jul 2015 13:21:43

Thanks to Lotto and Giant things have really picked up in the bunch and the gap to the breakaway is down to 8:15 and falling. 

The weather has certainly played its part so far in this Tour de France. Yesterday's straightforward-looking stage was complicated by crosswinds and rain, as was the case on stage 2. 

We'll soon be hitting the coast but it seems the gods have had mercy today with a dry day and only 15kmh winds coming in from the English Channel. 

You can read about that, and the uphill finish in Le Havre, in our up-to-date preview published today. 

137km remaining from 191km

Seven minutes is the gap now for the breakaway trio after 60km of racing. 

Oleg Tinkov is very much being Oleg TInkov today. The Tinkoff-Saxo owner has been out on the course of today's stage and has just ridden the finish in Le Havre. 

The link in the tweet below contains a video of Tinkov on the climb in which he says "not for Cavendish!" with a mischievous grin on his face. 

@a_thomas_commin Thu, 9th Jul 2015 13:29:04

The breakaway's lead continues to tumble. Six minutes now. 

123km remaining from 191km

Here we go then. We're about to hit the English Channel coastline. 

Cannondale-Garmin's directeur sportif Charly Wegelius has a clear favourite for today's win but also gives one of his riders a chance for victory as he told letour.fr

The final uphill is far from easy and very hard to judge. It depends on how the races runs out and what size of a group is going to contest the finish. My favourite is John Degenkolb, but he has a lot of pressure on his shoulders with a German sponsor and Germans being very successful but not a Giant-Alpecin.

If we should have a chance on this stage, I would go for Ramunas Navardauskas. It's hard for breaks to take place on this Tour because the nerves sometimes are so big they find they catch breaks without really wanting too. The coastline today is pretty tough. I wouldn't be a surprise to see a slightly smaller peloton than usual in the finale. It's not a foregone conclusion we'll have a sprint." 

The Tour last finished in Le Harve 20 years ago. The winner? Mario Cipollini

The peloton has been racing for 2 hours now, covering 73km of the 191.5km that make up stage 6

Lotto-Soudal's leadout man Greg Henderson has two cracked ribs but that isn't going to stop the Kiwi as he told letour.fr

"It's the breathing that's the problem. If it's just riding along in the peloton, it's alright. But when I go full gas against crosswind or uphill, I can't breathe. I have two broken ribs and they expand so much that I'm in big trouble when it gets super hard. There's an improvement this morning from yesterday morning.

"Yesterday I didn't have a smile on my face because of the cobbles and the bruising that came out from the first crash. I feel better this morning. But I can't even put my clothes on. The way to do it is just to keep suffering, brother… I have five stitches here and two here, but I can't be bothered with those."

At kilometre 76, the three man break has an advantage of 4:42 minutes

Daniel Teklehaimanot won the KOM point at the second climb of the day at Côte de Pourville-sur-Mer. He is now level with Joaquim Rodríguez on 2 points in te climbers classification.

The first time the Tour finished in Le Harve back in 1923, Robert Jacquinot took the victory. He won four Tour stages in his career and also wore the yellow jersey for four days

The Tour returned to Le Harve for the next years with Ottavio Bottecchia taking wins in 1924/25, Felix Sellier in 1926 while Maurice De Waele took the spoils in 1927

The breakaway is currently riding alongside the coast with a slight crosswind bowing from right to left

Tony Martin has had a flat but he's back in the bunch now

Lotto-Soudal is riding on the front of the peloton at the moment with the breakaway at 4:49 minutes ahead on the road

We are getting lots of scenic shots of the French coast line at the moment as its rather hunky dory in the peloton.

Critérium du Dauphiné KOM winner Daniel Teklehaimanot is looking to get into the polka dot jersey today. He needs one more point to move into the overall lead

"When I was young and watching the Tour de France, I was always more excited by the fight for the polka dot jersey than the yellow. It's fantastic to know that I'll be riding the Tour de France as well. It's very exciting. All the riders in the world want to do the Tour. I hope I'll have a chance to race for the polka dot jersey as well as here. One day with this jersey at the Tour would be enough for me. It won't be easy but I'm prepared to working hard."

Giant-Alpecin have moved forward to help with the pace setting how with Etixx-Quick Step also at the front with the yellow jersey of Tony Martin

Kenneth Van Bilsen is receiving some magic spray on his knee in the breakaway. He was one of the Cofidis riders to fall yesterday

Today's intermediate sprint points takes place in St Léonard after 145.5km. It is the next point of interest in the stage.

Tinkoff-Saxo boss Oleg Tinkov rode the finale of the course today. He sees the finish suiting his rider Peter Sagan and the likes of Alejandro Valverde, Chris Froome and Joaquim Rodríguez.

BikeRadar has put the latest aero helmets to the test, click here to see which helmet came out on top

Alejandro Valverde had a little fall after a nature break but is all good said his sports director José Luis Arrieta.

"He stop for a piss and slipped on the gravel when he went back on his bike but fortunately, there's no damage," he told letour.fr

Thomas De Gendt and Georg Preidler are trying to bridge across to the breakaway which has a current lead of 4:10 minutes.

If you'd like to join our stage 6 forum, simply click here for the latest dicsussion

That small attack by De Gent and Preidler is over as the peloton goes through the feed zone in Veules-les-Roses to pick up lunch.

It's a bit windy out there for the peloton with gusts of 20km/h but the peloton is taking it easy at the moment with the leaders 4:39 minutes out in front

@letourdata Thu, 9th Jul 2015 14:49:15

FDJ are hoping to reverse their luck and nab the stage win today as sport director Yvon Madiot told France Televisions.

"Today it's a stage to reverse the tendency and make luck turn in our favour. We've had a lot of crashes but it's a quieter day today. We'll try and win the stage with our sprinter Arnaud Démare. As an add of our sponsor says, 100% of the winners have tried their luck." FDJ is the French national lottery."

This morning Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) didn’t hide his ambitions for today’s stage to Le Havre. Sporza-journalist Renaat Schotte came up with ‘Greg Le Havremaet’, which might become his nickname if he wins the stage.

"That wouldn’t be too bad," Van Avermaet smiled. The elbow he hurt in yesterday’s crash bothered him a little but it wouldn’t affect his chances for the victory. "The final climb suits me. I checked the final kilometres on Google Maps and on a video. It’s never the same as actually riding it but it gives an impression. I don’t think I can shake off men like Sagan on the climb but I’m confident that I can do well in the sprint after such a climb,."

The three leaders have grown the lead out to five minutes with the peloton relaxed under the sunny skies with 78km to race.

The average speed for the third hour of racing was 37km/h

Peter Sagan's last win at the Tour de France was stage 7 of the 2013 race. Can he win today? Click here for a preview of the finish

Over at the Giro Rosa, Japanese champion Mayuko Hagiwara has won stage 6. Click here for results

While at the Tour of Austria, Johann Van Zyl has won stage 5. Click here for results

The break is coming down again. With lunch time over for the peloton, its time to resume racing. The three riders have  4minutes over the chasing peloton with 71.3km to go until we reach Le Havre

The gap is coming down now with the three riders' advantage just 3:30 minutes with Lotto-Soudal, Sky, Tinkoff, BMC and Ag2r on the front of the peloton

The peloton is reportedly 20 minutes behind the slowest schedule for the day with riders taking the opportunity for an easy day in the saddle after a tough start to the Tour

With 65km to race, the breakaway's lead is down to 2:45 minutes

@friebos Thu, 9th Jul 2015 15:18:56

The breakaway will contest the intermediate sprint point in 15km. The peloton is closing in on them at 2:52 minutes in arrears but are unlikely to catch them before the St Léonard sprint.

We will see the sprinters contest the sprint point in St Léonard with Greipel sure to try and extend his overall lead. He leads Peter Sagan, 151 points to 119 points.

Lotto Soudal is doing the majority of work in reeling in the chase at the moment with Thomas De Gent as we approach the sprint point

Kenneth van Bilsen is getting some more magic spray for his left knee

Adam Hansen, who has a separated AC, is sitting third wheel and contributing to the pace making, ignoring the pain

Former world champion Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) should be capable of going well on the 1km long final climb of today’s stage. When asked about his chances by Cyclingnews this morning he didn’t agree.

“Today the finish is for riders who are more explosive than me. Today it’s about recovery, avoiding the crashes and avoid losing time,” Costa said shortly after striking this pose. The Portuguese rider is currently 4’10” down on race leader Tony Martin.

Guy Dobbelaere is president of the jury at the Tour de France. Two days after the tumultuous stage to Huy the media storm has eased off, the Belgian commissaire said at the start in Abbéville.

“It was only Patrick Lefevre who complained. His directors sportifs came over to apologize for his behaviour. Even Marc Madiot came over to say it was a good call. The decision was made in the team car where I am with Thierry Gouvenou. When the medical team contacted us after the second crash that they ran out of people we decided the race had to be neutralized, then we contacted Christian Prudhomme,” Dobbelaere told Cyclingnews.

Patrick Lefevre also told Cyclingnews that he expected Kwiatkowski and Stybar to go well.

“Some people tend to forget that Kwiatko has a good finish too. I see him getting better each day,” Lefevre said. “Yesterday there were no excuses to be searched for what Mark Cavendish concerns. The Tour is still long though. He has more chances left. A win at the Champs Elysees counts for two wins. Today is not a day for him, although he can surprise me.”

Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) is negotiating a new deal with Astana.

“Nothing has been signed yet but my manager is negotiating a new deal,” Fuglsang said.

Patrick Lefevre was interested in the Dane. “Much depends on whether Rigoberto Uran stays in our team our not. I think Fuglsang already signed a new deal with Astana,” Lefevre said at the start in Abbéville.

1km until the sprint point for the three leaders

Perrig Quemeneur takes the points but there was no contest for the sprint

Bryan Coquard led out but its John Degenkolb who gets fourth place at the sprint point

Thomas Voeckler has launched his first attack of the 2015 Tour de France

Voeckler needs 45 seconds to make the catch with the breakaway while the peloton is 1:33 minutes behind the three leaders

The results of the sprint for fourth place at the intermediate: John Degenkolb, (13 pts), Bryan Coquard, (11 pts), André Greipel, (10 pts), Peter Sagan,(9 pts) and Mark Cavendish (8 pts)

@Lotto_Soudal Thu, 9th Jul 2015 15:56:29

Damiano Caruso has hit the deck on the exit of a roundabout

Thomas Voeckler has given up the chase and is waiting for the peloton

The peloton is two minutes behind the three breakaway riders who are 10km from the cat 4 Côte du Tilleul.

Giant Alpecin are leading the peloton at the moment which has sucked up Voeckler after his unsuccessful attack

There is only one point available at the top of the Côte du Tilleul which Daniel Teklehaimanot needs if he wants to take the lead in the KOM standings.

@SadhbhOS Thu, 9th Jul 2015 16:02:15

The peloton is 1:45 minutes behind the three leaders with 33km to race

Will Perrig Quemeneur (Team Europcar) and
Kenneth Van Bilsen (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) let Teklehaimanot take the KOM points?

The peloton can't see them but there are some very nice looks cliffs along the route today and blue seas

The break is on the Côte du Tilleul

Teklehaimanot takes the 1 point at the top of the Côte du Tilleul

Teklehaimanot makes history and becomes the first African to wear the KOM jersey at the Tour de France

The gap back to the peloton is just 1:17 minutes. There's nothing left on the road for the breakaway so expect the the peloton up the pace and make the catch in the run in to the finish line

@letourdata Thu, 9th Jul 2015 16:12:11

@radiotour_en Thu, 9th Jul 2015 16:15:05

27km remaining from 191km

Leading the peloton is Lotto-Soudal and Giant-Alpecin inside the final 30km of the stage

25km remaining from 191km

The three leaders have one single minute back to the peloton

The speed of the breakaway is around 37km/h while in the peloton it's 40km/h

22km remaining from 191km

The three riders in the breakaway are swapping turns with a sniff of the stage win and have gained a few seconds on the peloton

21km remaining from 191km

Giant-Alpecin, Movistar, BMC and Tinkoff-Saxo are spread across the front of the peloton to cut the lead down to one minute

We have a daily podcast for the 2015 Tour de France with insight, analysis and interviews from each stage. To subscribe to the Tour de France podcast on iTunes, click here

20km remaining from 191km

Inside the final 20km of stage 6 and the three leaders have one minute over the BMC, Movistar and Tinkoff-Saxo led peloton

A  tail wind is going to make for a fast finale today

Tim Wellens is doing the work for Lotto-Soudal now on the front of the bunch

A mechanical for Lars Boom who is now making his way though the convoy to get back into the peloton

17km remaining from 191km

The gap is holding at around one minute

15km remaining from 191km

The gap is now under one minute with the peloton wanting to make the catch with BMC, Movistar, Tinkoff-Saxo, Lotto Soudal and Movistar the main pace setters

14km remaining from 191km

The gap continues to come down with just 42 seconds the difference between the three leaders and peloton

12km remaining from 191km

Vanbilsen is after the win. He has attacked from the breakaway

The peloton is 35 seconds the two leaders now with Van Bilsen out in front by a few seconds

10km remaining from 191km

Final 10km. Van bilsen out in front with 10 seconds on his breakaway companions while the peloton is 32 seconds behind the Cofidis rider

10km remaining from 191km

Its the same teams on the front of the race with the pace seeing the peloton starting to string out

9km remaining from 191km

Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN - Qhubeka)
and
Perrig Quemeneur (Team Europcar) shake hands as they are caught by the peloton

8km remaining from 191km

BMC are doing a lot work on the front as Ag2r are also lending a hand with Trek moving up on the left-hand side of the road

7km remaining from 191km

Van Bilsen has 20 seconds over the peloton

The BMC led peloton is cracking along at 54km/h to make the catch of Van Bilsen

Perrig Quémeneur (Europcar) is most aggressive rider from today

5km remaining from 191km

The gap is down to 14 seconds with the peloton snaking along in a very long line

5km remaining from 191km

It's a very fast section of road with the peloton racing along at around 60km/h

4km remaining from 191km

Van Bilsen is in sight with the riders along the sea front boulevardd 

4km remaining from 191km

It's BMC and Etixx-Quick Step on the front with Van Bilsen holding a 10 second lead

3km remaining from 191km

The catch has been made

2km remaining from 191km

Etixx and Giant-Alpecin are on the front now

2km remaining from 191km

The yellow jersey of Tony Martin is in third wheel

2km remaining from 191km

A few fast corners before the uphlil lfinish

2km remaining from 191km

Giant, Etixx and Tinkoff are on the front

Katusha re moving forward now as are Cofidis

190km remaining from 191km

The peloon is starting to split as he hit the lower slopes of the climb

Crash!

Tony Martin is one of the fallers as is Vincenzo Nibali but its inside the 3km mark

1km remaining from 191km

Etixx on the front and going for the stage

Stybar is clear out in front

Stybar takes the victory

After the crash with 800 metres to go a small group went clear with Stybar then attacking from that group to go solo and claim his first Tour de France stage win. For the stage report, click here

Tony Martin is being escorted over the line by his teammates and looking to be in a world of pain with a possible broken collarbone

@letourdata Thu, 9th Jul 2015 16:52:42

@radiotour_en Thu, 9th Jul 2015 16:52:04

Tony Martin crosses the line with four teammates helping as he holds his left arm tight to his chest

Martin just clipped the wheel of a Europcar rider in front of him to shoulder Vincenzo Nibali and Nairo Quitnana to the ground

1 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx - Quick-Step 04:53:46
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo 00:00:02
3 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Team Europcar
4 John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin
5 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
6 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal
7 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN - Qhubeka
8 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre-Merida
9 Julien Simon (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
10 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team

Peter Sagan gets another second place with Bryan Coquard finishing in third

Stybar was all by himself as he crossed the line. Find the report here

Tony Martin remains the overall leader of the race but whether he starts the race tomorrow is uncertain. We'll let you know as he find out

If Martin was to leave the race, Chris Froome will be back in the yellow jersey. As the fall occurred in the final 3km there were no time losses for Quintana or Nibali so the top ten would otherwise be the same, minus Martin

Fabian Cancellara lost the yellow jersey after he was involved in the big stage 3 crash and left the race due to injury.

@Cyclingnewsfeed Thu, 9th Jul 2015 16:59:42

Chris Froome went to the Astana team bus to talk to Vincenzo Nibali who fell in the crash. Nibali has signalled to Italian TV that he is ok

Tony Martin has temporarily forgotten his pain to congratulate teammate Zdenek Stybar on his stage win

Nairo Quintana fell on his arm,losing some skin but says he's 'ok'

@letour Thu, 9th Jul 2015 17:08:48

Mark Cavendish after the stage had this to say of the crash.

"He [Tony Martin] just got entangled, we weren’t going fast, so he’s just fallen on it [his collarbone]. I’m super happy for Stybar, really, the stage that suited him was today and he did it. I hope Tony is alright."

Peter Sagan will wear the white jersey for another day tomorrow after he finished second

André Greipel will also continue to lead the points classification for another day

From the crash, it appears superficial wounds for Quintana's arm while Nibali doesn't look to have lost any skin. Tony Martin looks like being the worst affected of the fallers

Tony Martin has said he will have x-ray's before deciding whether he starts stage 7 after crashing today

Tyler Farrar on teammate Daniel Teklehaimanot winning the KOM jersey

"It’s huge. It’s really important to us. We wanted to come here and really take part in the race. We’ve been getting up in the mix on the sprints, but having Daniel up the road and in the climber’s jersey is probably the biggest thing to happen to our team, certainly the biggest thing this year. So we’re really happy."

Was the day’s plan for Daniel to make break?

"We had our eyes on it. We looked at the situation wit the points and we did the math. We knew if he could get up the road and take every point, then he would get it. It’s easy to say it on the bus beforehand, but he was incredible. He made it happen. So good job for him."
 

Tejay van Garderen had a few words to say after the stage

"Only now I just have seen the crash from our leader Tony Martin, so I hope it’s not too serious and we can fight for the yellow jersey."

Tony Martin explains what happened in the crash.

"I touched the back wheel of a Europcar rider. It was stressful like always. I can’t really remember but as usual with crashes when they are not at high speed, normally the injuries are the worst."

@chrisfroome Thu, 9th Jul 2015 17:23:41

Nairo Quintana on the crash.

"It’s a superficial knock, and I hope the elbow is all right tomorrow. I’m fine, right now in the immediate aftermath I’m not noticing anything but I hope I’ll be okay."

Team Sky's Dave Brailsford and Astana's Giuseppe Martinelli chatting after the stage

Here's Tony Martin crossing the line with the help of his Etixx-Quick Step teammates

@chrisfroome Thu, 9th Jul 2015 17:28:51

Keep on clicking back to the stage 6 race report with the latest on who crashed and the injuries they sustained. 

Click here for report, results and photos

For a rundown of who crashed in the finale, click here for the full story

It looks like Orica-GreenEdge avoided that late crash but the team has had some bad luck so far in this Tour. Click here to read about their ambitions for the second and third weeks

Having initially thought that Chris Froome caused the crash, Vincenzo Nibali has sent out a tweet apologising for jumping to conclusions 

@vincenzonibali Thu, 9th Jul 2015 17:37:27

Zdeněk Štybar hd this to say after his first Tour de France stage win.

"The stage on the cobbles was actually my goal. That I wanted to win. That did not work, but here I could do it. And that makes everything right.

"I'm very lucky that I can win in front of my wife Ine and my son Lewis. The victory is for them."

Warren Barguil was the Giant-Alpecin rider at the bottom of the crash but is ok

Daniel Teklehaimanot made a dream come true today.

"I'm really happy about what happened today. I can't believe it. That was my childhood dream to get the polka dot jersey at the Tour de France. I was excited about having just for one day. I followed exactly the team's plan we were had this morning. I made it in a group of three riders. After I scored two points, I was nervous that I wouldn't take one more, otherwise I would be left with nothing."

A broken collarbone for Tony Martin 

That is two yellow jerseys out of the Tour. It's the first time its happened in 102nd editions of the Tour de France

Here's what Vincenzo Nibali had to say after the stage

"The teams always want to be at the front. It's difficult to be well positioned. I crashed 400 metres from the line. I don't quite understand how we found ourselves in such a mess. I don't understand.

"Personally I'm OK. I only slightly hurt my leg and shoulder. It's always a problem to crash. I really don't know what happened. I know it went from left to right and I fell over Froome, who was on my right. I think Barguil is the one who fell over me. I don't know for sure."

Tony Martin crosses the line holding his collarbone. The team is yet to announce if he starts stage 7

If Tony Martin does withdraw from the Tour de France, there is no guarantee that Chris Froome would wear the yellow jersey out of respect

For a round up of post-stage quotes from the Tour de France, click here

If you want to join discussion of how stage 6 unfolded and what's next for Tony Martin, do so in the stage 6 forum by simply clicking here

For the full stage report with results and photographs click here

Peter Sagan snagged yet another second place today. Here's what he had to say after the stage.

"I lost today because everyone told me that I would win! But it's not easy to win a stage at the Tour de France. When Stybar attacked in the climb, there were no more legs in the group. I wait for a while… and all riders waited with me! I sprinted for second place because Greipel was not there and there were some points to collect. I'm glad that Alberto [Contador] avoided the crash."

Although Martin has Tweeted that his collarbone in broken, his team are keeping mum until a statement is released later.

Although Martin has Tweeted that his collarbone is broken, his team are keeping mum until a statement is released later.

Although Martin has Tweeted that his collarbone is broken, his team are keeping mum until a statement is released later.

Martin has vowed to fight on in the Tour de France. Read the report.

Martin has vowed to fight on in the Tour de France. Read the report.

Martin has vowed to fight on in the Tour de France. Read the report.

Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN-Qhubeka) is the first African to wear the polka dot jersey in the Tour de France.

His teammate Tyler Farrar said it’s huge accomplishment for the team.

"It’s really important to us. We wanted to come here and really take part in the race. We’ve been getting up in the mix on the sprints, but having Daniel up the road and in the climber’s jersey is probably the biggest thing to happen to our team, certainly the biggest thing this year. So we’re really happy."

Farrar said the team started the day with a plant to get Teklehaimanot in the breakaway and, ultimately, in the jersey.

"We had our eyes on it. We looked at the situation wit the points and we did the math. We knew if he could get up the road and take every point, then he would get it. It’s easy to say it on the bus beforehand, but he was incredible. He made it happen. So good job for him."

The race jury has confirmed that "(r)iders in the maillot jaune group at 3km to go are credited with same time as 2nd place in the stage (2 sec back)"

Martin and Kwiatkowski don't seem to keen on the attention from medical staff in this Bettini photo.

Vincenzo Nibali was upset with Chris Froome after Thursday's late crash, but the riders worked it out afterward aboard the Astana team bus. Read Barry Ryan's report.

Bad news for race leader Tony Martin. An Etixx-QuickStep spokesman has confirmed to Cyclingnews that he will not take the start tomorrow for stage 7. The race lead will move on to Chris Froome, but will he wear the yellow jersey tomorrow. he could choose not to out of respect for Martin.

Keep Checking Cyclingnews for the report.

Cyclingnews' Barry Ryan says the last time it happened like this (yellow jersey crashed, finished stage, then abandoned) was 1991. Greg LeMond didn't wear yellow the day after Rolf Sorensen abandoned. We're checking now to see if Froome will wear the jersey.

Read our report about Martin's unfortunate crash and the decision not to start tomorrow.

While we wait for the latest news concerning the Tour's yellow jersey, let's take a look at Friday's seventh stage, which, all being well, could be the quietest day of the race.

The 190.5km stage rolls gently through Normandy, then Brittany. After a stressful first six days, it could be a chance for most of the bunch to regroup, allow the stress of the first week to subside (before it goes straight back up again the following day), and let the sprinters’ teams take the strain of controlling things. The stage isn't exactly short, but it should be straightforward.

Read more about the stage in our race preview.

Etixx-QuickStep has just released a statement saying Martin will require surgery to repair his fractured collarbone.