The Irish riders have once again ridden very well at the
Tour of Britain, with Rory Townsend going on the attack and Dan Martin finishing
in the front group on today’s demanding stage 6.
Nicolas Roche and Ben Healy also finished very close to
the select group that pulled clear on the lumpy finale. Healy (20) rode
strongly in big company, though Roche slipped a little in the overall after
being hampered with team duties in the finale today.
Today’s 198km stage from Carlisle to Gateshead
saw a breakaway go clear for much of the stage, before it was caught for an
undulating all-out finale that shredded what remained of the peloton.
Ireland’s Townsend (Canyon dhb SunGod), who has already taken 5th and 6th on stages this week, was in the early 10-man breakaway, which featured some big names.
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Mark Cavendish and Tim Declercq (Deceuninck-QuickStep)
were there along with George Bennett (Jumbo Visma), Mason Hollyman (Israel
Cycling Academy), stage 2 winner Colin Joyce (Rally Cycling), Daniel Mclay
(Arkea Samsic) and Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin Fenix).
Nicolas Roche’s Team DSM team mate, Mark Donovan, was
also there and having stated the day 9th overall he was a danger man for the GC
riders’ teams.
As a result, Cavendish and Declercq combined to work over
Donovan, who was eventually on his way back to the bunch with Hollyman. And
though the breakaway had four minutes with just over 90km to go, they were
caught 14km from the finish, just as the final period of short sharp climbs
began.
However, Townsend had put in a great ride out front. He was first over the three climbs on the course today and also took the three hot spot sprints. His work out front meant his team mate, Jacob Scott, now cannot be beaten in the climbers’ classification.
The stage victory went to Wout van Aert,
the Jumbo Visma rider’s third victory of the week in Britain. He was best in
the sprint from the 10-man select group that forged clear on what was an up and
down final 15km.
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Van Aert just about saw off race leader
Ethan Hayter for victory. Young Ineos Grenadiers rider Hayter had regained the
race lead from Van Aert yesterday by winning stage 5. However, Hayter was very
nearly dropped on the run in today and but for the work of his Spanish team
mate Carlos Rodriguez (20) he would have been distanced.
Julian Alaphilippe
(Deceuninck-Quick Step) was 3rd today, with Ireland’s Dan Martin (Israel
Start-Up Nation) and his team mate Michael Woods both in the front group but
only managing 6th and 7th.
As the main favourites were all in the front group, there was no change at the top of the general classification, with the top nine remaining the same though some of the gaps have changed a little.
Hayter still leads from Van Aert, though the gap between the two has been cut by half to four seconds due to time bonuses today. Alaphilippe is 3rd overall at 21 seconds and Dan Martin remains 7th on GC, some 1:10 off the race lead.
When Roche’s team mate Donovan began to lose ground in
the finale today the Irish man stayed by his side, meaning they finished in a
22-rider group 10 seconds down on the leaders. That meant Donovan held onto his
9th overall, though Roche has slipped two places to 13th.
Healy was active at the front of the race for his Trinity Racing team and did his best early in the stage to get clear in a breakaway. He still had the legs to make that 22-rider group today, just 10 seconds down on the leaders; a strong performance from such a young rider new to this level.
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