00:00On to stage six of the Tour of Verne-Rhône-Alpes and it's time for the GC contenders to take
00:06centre stage.
00:07The mountains are finally here.
00:09Alex Bourdain has led the race since winning the opening stage, but this may well be his final day in
00:14the yellow and blue jersey.
00:16The Frenchman will be going through his hometown of Albertville today, promising to enjoy every moment.
00:24I'm going into the day with a smile. I'll make the most of being on my home roads with the
00:28jersey, it'll be special.
00:30I have no expectations, I'll just do my own race and focus on the final climb where I'll have to
00:36give everything to defend the jersey.
00:38Above all though, the plan is just to make the most of it.
00:42Decathlon CMA CGM have kept a pretty low profile since Sunday, but Paul Seksas is ready to start clawing back
00:49some time.
00:50Today we want to make the race hard and we hope to have a nice little battle on Cré-Volant.
00:57It's a good day to test ourselves.
01:01It's not very long, it's not very hard, so we're not expecting huge time gaps.
01:05The idea is to test out the legs and just see how it goes.
01:09So you're going to attack? We'll see.
01:12Matteo Jorgenton starts today 15 seconds off the pace before three stages of climbing that will decide the outcome of
01:19this 17th.
01:1928th edition.
01:20I think all three are real mountain stages, but today is the least challenging of the three, but doesn't mean
01:29it won't hurt the same.
01:30It might be the one which suits you the best or so, this kind of climb at the end, compared
01:34maybe to others?
01:34I think so, I agree, I think the lesser gradients will suit me a bit better.
01:41Stage six features 2,850 metres of elevation gain, which is about 1,000 metres fewer than stages seven and
01:48eight.
01:49Still, it's anything but straightforward, with four categorised climbs.
01:52The last two, the Côte d'Éricerogine and Crévolant, come in quick succession, and they should give us a clearer
01:59picture of who can win this Tour Auvergne Rhône-Alpes.
02:09Well, this race has been anything but predictable, and today it was absolutely crazy, full gas from the word go.
02:15No fewer than 60 riders, practically half of the peloton got into an early move, hammering along at more than
02:2152 kilometres an hour.
02:23Decathlon staying with their leader Sexas in the peloton, which contained all the main GC favourites.
02:29But teams like UAE and Visma-Lisabike had put satellite riders into this huge breakaway.
02:34The best placed overall was Luke Tuckwell, just a minute and three seconds behind Alex Boudin,
02:39and he had three Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe teammates with him.
02:43Two stage winners in there, Quinn Simmons and Anton Charmig.
02:47He was one of four riders from UNO-X, along with their leader Tobias Johannesson.
02:53Hopefully, I think today will suit me quite well.
02:56I feel quite punchy, and I'm really eager to try to sprint for a win, but of course there's a
03:02lot that can happen,
03:02and I think I've surprised myself in mountains before, so I hope to do it again.
03:07But it's quite honest, the last one, I think.
03:11If you have good legs, it's fun. If you have bad legs, it's going to be a long day on
03:15the bike.
03:17The gap creeping up to more than four minutes, with the King of the Mountains at Clément Brazzafonte,
03:21also in the break, and increasing his lead to ten points over the early climbs.
03:26EF Education Easy Post calling Alistair McKellar and Max Walker back from the breakaway to help pace the peloton,
03:33because Boudin was losing his fight to keep the jersey.
03:37They weren't really making any inroads into the gap, though. If anything, it was increasing.
03:44The riders just trying to stay cool on a hot day here in the Isère and Savoie departments.
03:53The breakaway soon reaching the foot of the penultimate climb, with a considerable advantage over the peloton,
03:59almost five minutes at this point. The stage winner would definitely come from this front group.
04:05Well, lots of riders falling away once they began to climb, and the front group was soon down to around
04:1020 riders.
04:12Twenty kilometres left to race, and a prestigious stage win up for grabs here in the Alps.
04:20A couple of accelerations coming from Maxime Van Hills and Pablo Castillo here, but neither man was able to get
04:27a gap.
04:28They were still together at the summit, where Brazzafonte snaffled another ten points towards his polka dot jersey.
04:34Valentin Paripantra and Carlos Rodriguez then attacked from the peloton, although they didn't go far.
04:40The GC leaders just keeping their powder dry for now.
04:45A short descent would lead them onto the final climb of Crévolant, 5.9 kilometres at 7.7 per cent.
04:56And the attacks would soon begin to fly in the front group, with EF Education Easy Post going in search
05:02of more glory.
05:05And we're on to the climb now, an immediate attack comes from Steinhauser.
05:13Red Bull Borahans Grower happy to sacrifice Maxime Van Hills, but Steinhauser goes clear, no surprises.
05:22He's an attacking rider, a stage winner in the Giro d'Italia.
05:29Well Georg Steinhauser was soon joined by Maxime Van Hills and Tobias Johannesson.
05:36And things were starting to happen in the peloton as well, as Alex Boudin finally said goodbye to his yellow
05:42and blue jersey.
05:44One Frenchman going backwards, another taking flight.
05:50Paul Sexas come to the front.
05:53Sexas is starting to do some damage.
05:56In fact, he is just riding everyone off his wheel.
05:59Three and a half k to go for the front of the race.
06:02Sexas is with Isaac del Toro, with Jorgensen.
06:05And it looks like Shkelmosa and Ayuso cannot respond to Paul Sexas.
06:12Well Sexas going clear with del Toro and Jorgensen, as the virtual race leader Tuckwell caught the group at the
06:17front, joining his teammate Van Hills, Johannesson and Pablo Torres of UAE.
06:23Disaster, though, for net company Ineos, with Oscar Onley shipping almost half an hour after a late crash.
06:29Josh Tarling had had to abandon after a crash of his own, and Kevin Vokalan was losing ground.
06:34Jorgensen unable to stay with Sexas and del Toro, and that looks set to be the main GC rivalry of
06:39the weekend.
06:41Meanwhile, up at the front, Torres cracked just before the flamme ruse, leaving the two Red Bull Bora hands-wear
06:47riders Van Hills and Tuckwell against Johannesson of UNOX.
06:50Could they make their extra man count in the final dash to the line?
06:56Johannesson goes very, very early. Tuckwell just needs to keep the pressure on.
07:01Johannesson going for the line. Maxime Van Gilles challenges on the outside, and Van Gilles is going to come past.
07:09Maxime Van Gilles wins the stage, and Johannesson bounces the bike up and down in disgust.
07:16Luke Tuckwell will be the leader of the Tour of Wernia Roan Alp.
07:23A brilliant day for Red Bull Bora hands-grower as they took both the stage and the yellow and blue
07:28jersey.
07:29Van Gilles out sprinting a furious Johannesson for his eighth career win and the first at a World Tour stage
07:34race.
07:35While his 21-year-old teammate Luke Tuckwell, who doesn't even have a professional win to his name, is the
07:41new overall leader.
07:44It's a beautiful day, yeah. To achieve this with the team is really great. We were here without a big
07:49leader.
07:50This morning I had some questions in the interviews, why we didn't come with a big star.
07:55But to win a stage and take yellow is, I think, really, really big.
08:00Van Gilles, Johannesson and Tuckwell finishing just ahead of Torres, with Raul Garcia-Pierna leading in the next group.
08:06Del Toro and Sexas finish together, 3 minutes and 15, behind the winner.
08:12Tuckwell now leads the race by a minute and 12 seconds from Bruno Amirai, followed by Guillaume Martanguini and Matteo
08:19Jorgensen.
08:20Sexas is seventh at 3 minutes 06, still 16 seconds ahead of Del Toro.
08:26It was another good day for Nadav Reisberg, who picked up ten more points at the intermediate sprint.
08:31He remains in green and now leads Garcia-Pierna by 16.
08:39Meanwhile, Brazzofonso has a 20-point lead in the mountains classification, but there are, of course, plenty more on offer
08:44over the weekend.
08:49Tuckwell is now the best young rider, with more than three minutes over Sexas, Ayuso and Del Toro, but how
08:55long will he be able to hold them off?
08:57We'll start to find out on Saturday as we head for a summit finish on the race's first Haw category
09:03climb, the Grand Colombie.
09:05Do join us for that tomorrow, and thanks for watching.
09:07We'll see you next time.
09:08We'll see you next time.
09:09Bye.
09:14Bye.
