Dan Martin and Nicolas Roche well placed as big mountains near in Tour de France

Yesterday's stage winner Mark Cavendish was none too pleased with crashing today and being left to fend for himself in the finale, where he could manage only 4th on stage 6 at the Tour de France.

By Gavin McLoughlin

Nicolas Roche and Dan Martin successfully maintained their high overall placings on stage 6 of the Tour de France today, Thursday. On a day for the sprinters, both Irishmen finished alongside the overall favourites.

There was a small split in the bunch as the fast men dashed ahead for the finish line, and this meant the Irish duo lost 5 seconds on an overall lead now held by Daryl Impey (Orica-Green Edge). However, none of the men that finished in the lead group are contenders for the yellow jersey and so the general classification race is unaffected.

Garmin-Sharp co-leader Martin is up one place to 16^th overall after the injured Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) did not start this morning. The Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner is 22 seconds behind new race-leader Impey.

Saxo-Tinkoff's Roche remains 9^th on general classification and will start tomorrow 14 seconds off the yellow jersey.

It was a sweltering day in the south of France as the riders took on a flat 177 kilometre run from Aix-en-Provence to Montpellier. Splits in the bunch caused by crosswinds were considered a real possibility, so positioning and attentiveness would be vital today.

Luis Angel Maté (Cofidis) attacked as soon as the race got underway, but none followed and the Spaniard was left to press on alone. The Cofidis man managed to get some television airtime but soon surrendered, and he was swallowed up by the peloton with the intermediate sprint approaching.

That sprint came down to a duel between André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) and Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), with Greipel crossing first to take 20 points. Cavendish in second added 17 points to his total, reducing the lead of Peter Sagan (Cannondale) in the points classification. The Slovak crossed fourth to take 13 points.

For most of the day, Orica-Green Edge would not budge from the front and their brisk tempo deterred further attacks. Nervousness seemed to abound as the riders feared getting caught out by the swirling wind.

Inside the final 35 kilometres and the hot favourite for the stage win was involved in a crash. Yesterday’s victor Cavendish hit the deck and had to deftly wind his way through the cavalcade of cars to get back into the peloton.

Janez Brajkovic (Astana) was the next to come to grief as the pace exploded. Argos-Shimano took up the pace-setting and the stage was set for the fast men to do battle again.

André Greipel was a frustrated fourth-place finisher yesterday but today would be a sweeter day for the muscular German. The sprinters separated themselves from the rest of the bunch and after his Lotto-Belisol lead-out men delivered him to the perfect spot, Greipel was able to finish the job and take a comfortable win.

Impey (Orica-Green Edge) began the morning in second place but the South African moves into the yellow jersey after he finished in the lead group, 5 seconds ahead of his teammate and overnight leader Simon Gerrans. Impey is the first South African to hold the Tour lead.

Stage 7 is a hilly 206 kilometre trek from Montpellier to Albi. The climbing stops with 35 kilometres remaining, so another bunch finish is possible. But with the high mountains joining the party on Saturday, perhaps tomorrow will be a day for a breakaway if the peloton looks to conserve energy.

@gavmcloughlin

Stage 6: Aix-en-Provence to Montpellier (177 km)

1 André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) 3:59:02

2 Peter Sagan (Cannondale)

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