Last Updated on April 29, 2023
The German Lotto-Belisol rider, Andre Greipel marched to victory in the sixth stage of the Tour de France in wet and windy conditions, beating Katusha’s Alexander Kristoff and Samuel Dumoulin of AG2R. Astana’s Vincenzo Nibali was the overall leader in the general classification, followed closely by Jakob Fuglsang and Peter Sagan.
However, many riders struggled on the wet roads and Team Sky’s Xabier Zandio quit the race after a crash, thereby becoming the second driver to do so after defending champion Chris Froome also crashed out on wednesday. Team Sky’s new leader, Richie Porte, crossed the line among the leading pack to remain just one minute adrift of Nibali. Richie expressed his sadness at his team-mate’s failure to complete the race. Elsewhere, Alberto Contador’s team-mate Jesus Hernandez was forced to quit the race after crashing. Being one of the favourites to win the race, Contador will be without one of his key helpers in the mountain stages. The two time winner is just two minutes, 37 seconds adrift of race leader, Nibali. Finishing fifth, Sagan is yet to finish outside the top five in the opening six stages and he leads the green points jersey, a competition he has won for the last two editions of the race. However, he was unable to make an impression in the sprint finish.
Greipel picked up his first stage win of this year’s race and sixth in total. He expressed his happiness at having completed the race and thanked his team-mates for their support.
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