Belgian Dylan Teuns won the sixth stage and first finish at the top of the Tour de France between Mulhouse and Planche des Belles Filles (160.5 km). Italy’s Giulio Ciccone finished second and picked up Julian Alaphilippe’s yellow jersey for six short seconds.
The Planche des Belles filles made its verdict on Thursday: Belgian Dylan Teuns (Bahrain) took the 6th stage of the Tour de France ahead of Italian Giulio Ciccone (Trek), who took the yellow jersey from Julian Alaphilippe by 6 seconds.
Behind Teuns and Ciccone who fought for the stage victory in the first finish at the top, the titleholder, Welshman Geraint Thomas, was the best of the favourites.
Thomas, 4th of the stage, took time to all his opponents for the general classification. Among others, the Frenchman Romain Bardet, the main loser of the day (1 min 09 sec on the Welshman) after being distanced in the last kilometre.
Italian Vincenzo Nibali and, to a lesser extent, Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk have also been left behind.
In the provisional general classification, Ciccone delighted the yellow jersey at Alaphilippe for 6 seconds and ahead of Teuns by 32 seconds.
Everything was played out in the final ascent, the seventh of this Vosges stage, which ended in the last kilometre largely unpaved.
Ciccone delight yellow jersey at Alaphilippe for 6 seconds
Alaphilippe left the group of favourites but was overwhelmed by Thomas at the approach of the summit, located at 1140 meters above sea level. The Frenchman, 6th in the stage, crossed the line behind his compatriot Thibaut Pinot, whose lieutenant David Gaudu drove hard in the final.
In this 160.5-kilometre stage, Colombian Nairo Quintana’s Movistar team and Spain’s Mikel Landa started the hunt some 50 kilometres from the finish to return to a breakaway of 14 runners launched shortly after the start. (Cosnefroy, Teuns, Bernard, Pauwels, Ciccone, De Gendt, Arndt, Berhane, Wellens, Grellier, Politt, Meurisse, Pasqualon, Greipel).
A first peloton appeared at the foot of the climb with less than 4 minutes behind the survivors (Ciccone, Wellens, Teuns, Meurisse) after the attempt of the Belgian Thomas De Gendt, taken in the penultimate climb, to 20 kilometres.
In the final climb, Landa attempted to counterattack but was later picked up. Ciccone, 24, takes part for the first time in the Tour. The young Italian, a regular at the Giro, has won twice in the Giro d’Italia, from which he took the stage-queen at the end of May and then the mountain classification.
Teuns, 27, also participates for the first time in the Tour. The Belgian had won in June in a stage of Dauphine. Friday, return to the flat. The 7th stage, the longest of the Tour with 230 kilometres between Belfort and Chalon-sur-Saône, is favourable to sprinters.
