Tour of Britain: Wout van Aert wins stage 6

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Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma) claimed his third stage win of the 2021 Tour of Britain after powering to the line to beat a small group of favourites including race leader Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) and world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep).

The winning break formed after Van Aert attacked with under 15km to go to. The Belgian national champion drew a group with him that included Hayter and his teammate Carlos Rodgriguez, James Shaw (Ribble-Weldtite) and the Israel Start-Up Nation duo of Michael Woods and Dan Martin. 

The riders quickly built up a lead of around 30 seconds on the rest of the peloton and the last 10km saw a volley of attacks, with Shaw and Woods particularly aggressive. The Canadian attacked with 7km to go but was reeled in soon after before Shaw put in one last-ditch move to break free.

That attack was unsuccessful and it was Alaphilippe who opened his sprint first after an excellent lead-out from Mikkel Honoré. Hayter was able to come around the world champion but he was no match for Van Aert, who came over the top of Hayter and opened his sprint on the opposite side of the road, powering clear to take another stage win.

The bonus seconds - 10, 6, 4 for the top three - saw Van Aert cut Hayter’s race lead to just four seconds with two more stages remaining in this year’s race. 

The earlier part of the stage had seen a nine-man break go clear with Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-QuickStep) among those who attacked.

How it unfolded

The early break formed with Mark Cavendish and Tim Declercq (Deceuninck-QuickStep), George Bennett (Jumbo Visma), Mark Donovan (Team DSM), Mason Hollyman (Israel Cycling Academy), Colin Joyce (Rally Cycling), Rory Townsend (Canyon dhb SunGod), Daniel Mclay (Arkea Samsic), and Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin Fenix) going clear in the early stages as the race left Carlise.

Donovan was an unwelcome presence in the break given that he sat just 1:42 off the leader’s jersey and in order to eliminate the early chase from Ineos Grenadiers the QuickStep pairing of Declercq and Cavendish worked together to eliminate the Team DSM rider from the move.

On Hartside Pass, with 114km to go the gap has stabilized at just over four minutes with little action from the bunch until Israel Start-Up Nation and Movistar began to chase once Donovan and Hollyman had been caught. On Killhope Cross with 94km to go the leading group managed their advantage and after climbing Burtree Fell the gap stood at three minutes with 80km remaining.

Heavy rain began to fall before Alex Dowsett set about properly cutting into the break’s advantage and with 35km remaining Cavendish and his companions had just 1:40 over the bunch. McLay was the next rider to slip back and with 17km to go and the bunch hot on their heels Cavendish attacked. The move was short-lived with the bunch making contact soon after and on a shallow rise Shaw moved clear.

Ineos Grenadiers looked to establish control having already used up Richie Porte and Owain Doull earlier in the stage but when Van Aert attacked with 13km to go only Woods, Alaphilippe and Dan Martin could initially respond.

Carlos Rodriguez dragged Hayter and several other riders back into contention but Alaphilippe and then Woods both attacked before the leaders finally relented and set about positioning themselves for the sprint.