Chris Froome is wearing the yellow jersey of overall leader for the third consecutive day.
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McLay, racing for wildcard team Fortuneo-Vital Concept, has managed four top-10 finishes in the sprints and was a close third behind Cavendish and Marcel Kittel on stage six.
Setting up well for sprinters, Wednesday’s stage follows a 162.5-kilometer (101-mile) route from Carcassonne to Montpellier near the Mediterranean coast. That Van Avermaet went on to win stage 5, and the yellow jersey, and Richie Porte was raging on the queen stage to Arcalis only amplifies the gravity of the error on stage 3.
French climbing specialists Romain Bardet and Thibaut Pinot have also circled this stage for special attention.
“I was quite surprised to hear that Alberto Contador was in his vehicle”, said Froome.
“It’s true I’ve had many second places but I think it was a positive day today”, added Sagan. Given that the peloton knows to expect attacks from Froome when a stage finishes on a mountain top, being able to improvise in this way could prove valuable.
Froome moved 28 seconds ahead of fellow British rider Adam Yates.
Froome’s team manager said yesterday it would be “stupid” to try to use a motorised bike in the Tour de France and the reigning champion and race leader is being tested more than anyone else.
He is living at a much higher altitude than when he resided in Girona and also does much more training in the mountains. It was in all of our best interests to work together. He took his sixth stage of the Tour de France since 2012 in an unexpected manner, at least a very different one from his usual uphill show.
Leading the Tour overall after a stunning downhill attack in the Pyrenees on Saturday, if Froome captures the Tour in two weeks’ time, the Kenya-born Briton will be the first back-to-back victor since Miguel Indurain in 1995.
Team Sky boss Dave Brailsford said he wants his riders to race less predictably this year and so far they are carrying out his instructions. “I believe Nairo is too”, Valverde said.
Quite apart from the defensive tactics needed on the road and the media obligations off it, carrying yellow has in the past meant for Froome a barrage of unsubstantiated allegations and rumours about doping – and he even had urine thrown at him during last year’s Tour.
“The Ventoux, however, is much more hard, it’s much more impressive for all the riders, even the favourites”, the FDJ rider said.
As I’ve said all week since losing time to a flat on stage two, the thinking behind my moves is not rocket science.
“At some point in time, either the race gets taken on and (with) some of the other teams we have a battle with it, or we re going to continue to control the race until a couple of key showdowns”.
Pinot was among the riders dropped by the peloton when the wind was at its fiercest, although he caught up again a bit later.
The next two days will see him focus on saving energy and staying out of trouble.
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Shortly after the stage finished, Tour director Christian Prudhomme confirmed Thursday’s stage 12 would not go to the summit of Mont Ventoux, and will instead finish at Chalet Reynard.
