Tour de Suisse 2015: Stage 6

Welcome to live coverage of the Tour de Suisse stage 6

Welcome to stage 6 of the Tour de Suisse from Wil to Biel. The riders have still got some 155km to go on this stage and we've got four men up the road with a 2:40 advantage. The riders out front are Axel Domont (AG2R La Mondiale), Marek Rutkiweicz (CCC Sprandi), Matej Mohoric (Cannondale-Garmin) and Jérôme Baugnies (Wanty-Groupe Gobert)

Thibaut Pinot is in the race leader's jersey today after taking a great victory on the summit finish of Rettenbachgletscher. This is how the standings look at the moment.

1 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr 17:42:01
2 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:47
3 Simon Spilak (Slo) Team Katusha 0:00:50
4 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:55
5 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:01:07
6 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:01:27
7 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:01:32
8 Steve Morabito (Swi) FDJ.fr 0:02:29
9 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) IAM Cycling 0:02:43
10 Sergio Luis Henao (Col) Team Sky 0:02:46

Of the 145 riders that made it to the finish yesterday, all of them signed on this morning. Only seven riders have retired so far.

The leaders are on the small climb of Eschenmosen. Like most of the climbs today it is not categorised. There is only one third category ascent for the riders at around the 98km mark.

136km remaining from 193km

The four escapees are near Zurich airport at the moment. Unfortunately for them, regulations won't let them hitch a ride to the finish. They'll have to do this the hard way. Their gap has grown to 4:30.

Outside of the Tour de Suisse, Nairo Quintana is lining up alongside Alberto Contador at the Route du Sud - his final preparation for the Tour. The Colombian spoke last night, saying that there are at least 10 serious contenders for the Tour de France.

@irishpeloton Thu, 18th Jun 2015 14:20:17

123km remaining from 193km

The break are being allowed to get further away as their advantage goes up to 4:50 on the peloton with 123km of racing still to go.

Thibaut Pinot has a small 47-second lead over Geraint Thomas in the overall classification but after moving into yellow yesterday the Frenchman wants to keep it until the finish on Sunday. Read his full comments after his win right here.

There is lots of racing going on today and Jolien D'hoore has won the second stage of the Women's Tour, while Lisa Brennauer retains the lead. Check here for a full report, gallery and results.

Mountains classification leader Stefan Denifl won't be worried about losing his jersey today as there is only one third category climb today, the Auensteinstrasse. The breakaway should safely mop up the points, leaving the Swiss rider to rest up int he peloton and wait for the more challenging days to come.

This is what they riders are facing today. If the time schedules are correct they should be approaching the one and only climb of the day.

Among the many races going on today, the second stage of the ZLM Toer had just finished with André Greipel taking the win.

@katushacycling Thu, 18th Jun 2015 15:11:35

A reminder of the four men out front they are Axel Domont (AG2R La Mondiale), Marek Rutkiweicz (CCC Sprandi), Matej Mohoric (Cannondale-Garmin) and Jérôme Baugnies (Wanty-Groupe Gobert). It was the first three in that list that made it away with Baugnies bridging the gap later.

Grey skies still loom over the riders. They've been lucky so far with no rain, but there is still a possibility of some before the finish.

The leaders are over the climb of Auensteinstrasse, with a 3:50 lead over the bunch. Marek Rutkiewicz leads them over the top.

1. Marek Rutkiewicz 5 points.

2. Axel Domont  3.

3. Matej Mohoric  2

Axel Domont is the best placed rider of the four men int he break. The AG2R rider began the day at over 36 minutes back. Domont is in his second year as a professional.

Silvan Dillier is one of two Swiss riders competing for the Swiss-backed BMC team at this year's Tour de Suisse. Today's route passes through the 24-year-old's home region of Aargau.

If you're into your bike tech then you'll be interested in this. Mark Cavendish has been spotted riding a new Specialized S Works prototype. Take a look at the bike here.

After a tough day in the saddle yesterday, the riders are taking it easy today. At 40.5kph, they're currently slower than the slowest predicted speed.

65km remaining from 193km

The predicted rain has come for the riders. With 65km to go to the finish, the escapees have 2:05 on the peloton.

Giant-Shinmano and Etixx-QuickStep have put a man each on the front of the peloton, with the stage likely to finish in a bunch sprint. Race leader Thibaut Pinot is the fourth man in the bunch.

The organisers report that "there is a difficult right turn of 90 degrees only 250 meters ahead of the finish line." This should make the final sprint interesting with positioning key for any victory hopefuls.

Mark Renshaw made a trip back to the car, he could be seen looking at Wilfried Peeter's mobile phone. Perhaps at that corner that we just mentioned. He'll be working for Mark Cavendish in the sprint.

55km remaining from 193km

The peloton seems happy with the gap at the moment and it's actually going back up at the moment. It currently stands at 2:22 at the moment.

51km remaining from 193km

While the rain is falling hard on the peloton, there is some good news. It is currently dry at the finish. Let's hope that the rain doesn't follow them all the way to Biel.

More race results coming in and Steven Tronet caused an upset as he won stage 1 of the Route du Sud. Read about it here.

Lotto-Soudal have started pushing up to the front, as have Sky and Katusha. The riders are approaching an intermediate sprint. There are two sprints in the final 42km.

44km remaining from 193km

News coming in that it is now raining at the finish, which could make that final, tight turn a much different prospect with a peloton charging through it.

The gap to the escapees is coming down again. The peloton have cut it to 1:33.

The rain at the finish could be god news for Sagan. The Tinkoff-Saxo rider has very good bike handling skills and may feel a little braver going through that final corner. Stage 4 winner Michael Matthews has gone home but there are several contenders for today's sprint including Alexander Kristoff, Mark Cavendish, Davide Cimolai and Michael Albasini.

39km remaining from 193km

Michael Kwiatkowski takes off his rain jacket, as have several others in the peloton, as the rain over the main bunch stops.

Jérôme Baugnies takes the points at the sprint, still one more to come with 18.7km to go.

@PelotonWatch Thu, 18th Jun 2015 16:34:19

Of the breakaway riders it is Matej Mohoric who has the most illustrious career. The Garmin-Cannondale rider is a former junior and under23 World Champion. The 20-year-old is now in his second year as a professional.

A look at today's finish.

@ElisaMadiot Thu, 18th Jun 2015 16:35:35

28km remaining from 193km

The leaders have just 1:25 on the peloton now. They head through a pinch point with some road works on the left. This could cause some problems for the chasing peloton.

An attack from Movistar

The Movistar riders are Malori and Ventoso. They pair came from about 10 riders back int he peloton. Interesting move from the Spanish team.

22km remaining from 193km

Neither can be looking for the points at the intermediate sprint so this looks like a serious breakaway attempt. Movistar still have Rojas in the bunch, so perhaps he's not feeling so good after a crash earlier in the race.

The Movistar pairing are now just one minute behind the break.

@fabrizioviani Thu, 18th Jun 2015 16:51:53

Katusha is leading the chase in the peloton. They're clearly worried about this move from Malori and Ventoso. The latest time check has the gap between the peloton and the Movistar group at 20 seconds while the four escapees have only 39 seconds on their chasers.

15km remaining from 193km

A lot of teams helping to chase down this counter attack. They're bringing the Movistar duo back pretty quickly and it looks like the predicted bunch sprint will happen.

I may have spoken too soon. As Malori and Ventoso bring the gap to the escapees down to 29 seconds, the extend their gap to the peloton back up to 20 seconds. This could be tight at the finish.

12km remaining from 193km

The break are hotlding the peloton at around 50 seconds with 12km to go. The Movistar pair are about 25 seconds behind the escapees.

@nyvelocity Thu, 18th Jun 2015 17:02:07

10km remaining from 193km

Etixx-QuickStep lead the peloton. They're 38 seconds behind the break with Malori and Ventoso about 12 seconds ahead.

8km remaining from 193km

The break up the pace in an effort to keep this going and Domont is struggling to keep up. He has to sprint to keep in touch.

Pinot has no teammates around him but  he's currently keeping himself safe at the back of the Etixx train.

7km remaining from 193km

A problem for Michael Valgren and that is bad news for Tinkoff-Saxo.

The Movistar group are 16 seconds behind the escapees. Can they catch them before the peloton does?

5km remaining from 193km

Stybar crashes and takes and Etixx teammate out with him. The Belgian team are still on the front with four riders.

3km remaining from 193km

The crash has hardly disrupted the chase and the gap is down to 16 seconds.

The Movistar riders have been caught with BMC taking up the pace setting. Just the four escapees remain out front.

1km remaining from 193km

The peloton have the escapees in their sights

With just over a kilometre to go the break is finally brought back. Tinkoff-Saxo lead the bunch.

Flamme rouge

Sagan is second wheel with Renshaw behing him but Cavendish has disappeared.

Sagan has a lotto rider between himself and his leadout man

Sagan wins

The Lotto-Soudal rider was Roelandts and he finishes second with Kristoff taking third place.

Roelants was the rider to begin the sprint as Tinkoff-Saxo moved off the front but he was no match for the points leader Sagan when he wound things up.

That is Sagan's second sprint victory at the race after taking the win on stage 3.

After losing his lead-out train, Mark Cavendish finished sixth at two seconds down. It's not been a great race for the Manxman.

@Cyclingnewsfeed Thu, 18th Jun 2015 17:20:48

The official standings for today's stage

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo 4:34:43
2 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Lotto Soudal
3 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Team Katusha
4 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team
5 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Tinkoff-Saxo
6 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:00:02
7 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
8 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
9 Borut Bozic (Slo) Astana Pro Team
10 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team

And this is how the general classification looks as Pinot loses some time in the finale:

1 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr 22:16:51
2 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:42
3 Simon Spilak (Slo) Team Katusha 0:00:50
4 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:55
5 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:01:07
6 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:01:22
7 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:01:32
8 Steve Morabito (Swi) FDJ.fr 0:02:29
9 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) IAM Cycling 0:02:43
10 Sergio Luis Henao (Col) Team Sky 0:02:46

@TeamSky Thu, 18th Jun 2015 17:23:21

@tds Thu, 18th Jun 2015 17:27:35

That's is from us today, thank you for joining us and make sure to take a look at our report page, for a recap of the day's action, photos and full results.