While Cummings shrugged off his rivals up the imposing Col d’Aspin to claim victory by more than a minute, Adam Yates required four stitches after a freak collision with the flamme rouge one kilometre from the finish of stage seven.
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Mark Cavendish won a sprint to the finish on Thursday to win the sixth stage of the Tour de France, his 29th career stage victory at the event.
Stephen Cummings became the second Brit to win a stage at the 2016 Tour de France giving Dimensin Data its fourth victory of the race.
“Manx Missile” Cavendish, who reclaimed the green jersey in the overall points category from Slovak Peter Sagan (Tinkoff), has now won half of the stages in this year’s race, having managed only one last year. The chaotic scene saw the main bunch soft pedal into the finish with a truce between the big names after the confusion caused by the downed inflatable arch. They had to lift the arch off the ground and slip their bikes underneath it.
South African, Daryl Impey (Orica-Bikeexchange) came in second, 0:01:05 behind the victor while Spaniard Dani Navarro (Cofidis) came third.
“They tried to put me in the best position at the foot of the climb”, said Pinot, who enjoyed a strong start to the season crowned by a time trial title at the French national championships last month.
Froome and Quintana were slowed when an inflatable arch marking the final kilometer was punctured and fell to the ground.
After the sprinter from the Isle of Man posted a third stage win in less than a week, it is now obvious that the long hours spent on the boards have helped him improve his speed.
“The Tour is the Tour, it’s special”, said Cummings, who was overlooked by British Cycling for this year’s Rio Olympics that will be held on a course suiting his profile.
It was the second stage win of the Tour de France for the Team Dimension Data rider, who also claimed victory in stage 14 in July a year ago.
Overall favorites Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana finished in the main pack.
“I’m over it, as an athlete you learn to deal with disappointment”, Cummings, 35, said.
Greg van Avermaet finished safely in the peloton and kept the maillot jaune going into yesterday’s first stage in the Pyrenees.
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On Stage 8 of the Tour de France, we should finally see the big boys come out.
