Tour de France: Groenewegen sprints to tight Stage 6 win as Pogacar survives scare

Dutchman snatches victory after bunch finish while UAE Team Emirates rider remains 45 seconds clear in general classification

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  Dutch rider Dylan Groenewegen on the podium after winning Stage 6 of the Tour de France on July 4, 2024. EPA

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  Dutch rider Dylan Groenewegen of Team Jayco AlUla afte winning Stage 6 of the Tour de France. EPA

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  Team Jayco AlUla's Dylan Groenewegen celebrates after winning Stage 6 of the 111th Tour de France. AFP

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  UAE Team Emirates rider Tadej Pogacar on the podium wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey after Stage 6. Reuters

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  Cycling - Tour de France - Stage 6 - Macon to Dijon - Macon, France - July 4, 2024 Team Jayco AlUla's Dylan Groenewegen crosses the finish line to win stage 6 REUTERS / Molly Darlington

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  Dutch rider Dylan Groenewegen crosses the finish line to win Stage 6 after a sprint finish. Reuters

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  Dutch rider Dylan Groenewegen after winning Stage 6, a 163.5km race between Macon and Dijon. AFP

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  Slovenian rider Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, in the peloton. AP

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  The peloton during Stage 6 of the Tour from Macon to Dijon. EPA

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  The peloton during the Stage 6 of the Tour de France which started in Macon before finishing in Dijon. AP

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  The peloton rides through the Burgundy region of France. AFP

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  The peloton during Stage 6 of the Tour de France. AP

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  The peloton rides in the Burgundy region during Stage 6 of the Tour de France. AFP

Dutch rider Dylan Groenewegen edged to a narrow sprint victory on Stage 6 of the Tour de France on Thursday as UAE Team Emirates' Tadej Pogacar maintained his early grip on the yellow jersey.

The Jayco AlUla rider, 31, let out a huge scream after beating Belgian Jasper Philipsen for his sixth individual stage win on the Tour, with Eritrea's Biniam Girmay coming home third.

Philipsen, though, was relegated from the podium for blocking Wout van Aert in the sprint with Girmay promoted to second place and Fernando Gaviria of Movistar taking over third.

Pogacar retained the overall leader's yellow jersey after a mid-stage scare with the Burgundy vineyards in the background. The 2020 and 2021 champion was without a teammate when defending champion Jonas Vingegaard's Visma-Lease a Bike team's brutal acceleration amid crosswinds that split the bunch in two.

Pogacar was on the right side of the split but all his UAE Emirates teammates were trapped behind, before a collective effort allowed them to rejoin the front bunch 70km from the finish.

“I’m really happy,” said Groenewegen, who was banned for nine months for his role in a near-fatal crash that sent Fabio Jakobsen over a safety barrier and into a metal post at the Tour of Poland.

“The feeling is so amazing, especially in the red, white and blue jersey. Before, I said it would be a beautiful picture but it was so close I couldn’t celebrate on the finish line.

In the end, we grabbed it and the team worked so hard in the last days. Yesterday I was a bit disappointed about myself because the team did a really good job but today we nailed it again. In the last kilometres, we stayed calm. I don’t actually know what happened but I was first.

“Yesterday I was really disappointed, also the first day, but that was sprinting – sometimes the gap closes. But now we have a victory, a victory in the first week means a lot for me and the team.”

Van Aert voiced his frustrations about Philipsen before the decision was made to declassify the rider. “That’s a bad habit of his,” the Belgian, who was promoted a place to sixth said at the Visma-Lease a Bike bus.

“It wasn’t super dangerous, I could still get to the brakes. But I was level with him and he really went to the barrier. He felt me coming, and that’s not professional to close the door like that.

“Am I angry? I am mainly happy that I stayed upright. I would be angry if there were no sanctions. He does not need to be thrown out of the race for me, but a declassification is appropriate.”

Mark Cavendish, who claimed a record 35th stage win on the Tour on Wednesday, was not in the mix for the final sprint and finished 20th. The Briton was also reprimanded by the race stewards for using his team car's slipstream to ease his way back into the peloton after suffering a mechanical.

There was no major change in the general classification, with Pogacar keeping a 45-second lead over Remco Evenepoel. Two-time defending champion Vingegaard stayed in third place, 50 seconds off the pace. Rounding off the top five are Spaniard Juan Ayuso and Pogacar's Slovenian compatriot Primoz Roglic.

The fight between the main contenders for the yellow jersey is expected to resume on Friday during the race's first time trial from Nuits-Saint-Georges to Gevrey Chambertin.

The 25-kilometre race against the clock features a climb with an average gradient of 6.1 per cent that will put riders to the test in the final section. Evenepoel is the reigning time-trial world champion and could put pressure on Pogacar's lead.