Stage 6: Arras › Reims – 194 km
Following a brutal, rain-soaked fifth stage that saw defending Tour de France champion Chris Froome abandon the race and former cyclocross World Champion Lars Boom take a win, the peloton will breathe a collective sigh of relief for Stage 6. It’s another mostly flat day. There are only two categorized climbs on the menu, both of them Category 4s and far enough from the finish line that they’re unlikely to put anyone into too much trouble. The parcours should bring on another sprint finale. An excess of roundabouts and then a few turns as the stage nears the Reims finish line will make for a bit of a hectic run-in, but the stage closes out with a long straightaway that will likely lead to a very high-speed finale.
Naturally, Marcel Kittel will be the day’s big favorite. On the Tour’s fourth stage, things were much closer in the sprint finish than they had been in earlier stages, but Kittel still emerged as the victor. He is likely to pick up another win here. He has the strong team to guide him to the straightaway, where his opponents will have difficulty matching his unrivalled top speed in what projects to be a very fast finish. It would be a surprise if anyone outguns Kittel for Stage 6 in Reims. John Degenkolb will play his usual role as Giant-Shimano’s strong second option if anything happens to Kittel.
Andre Greipel, at his best, has a top speed that at least comes close to that of his countryman Kittel, but he has struggled to get in position for the bunch gallops so far in the Tour de France and has yet to really contest a stage. Leadout man Greg Henderson has abandoned the race, which will make things even tougher for Greipel, and the possibility of rain could lead to continued difficulty in getting into a comfortable position for the finale. It’s very hard to project Greipel’s performance right now; just a few weeks ago he was looking great across a number of races, but he seems to be missing something in this Tour de France.
Peter Sagan may have only landed 4th on Stage 4’s sprint finish after a pair of 2nd place results in the previous bunch sprints, but that 4th place came after crashing in the last half hour of racing. He still looks like a strong contender behind Kittel, assuming he isn’t too exhausted after a long day in the lead group on the cobbles. Alexander Kristoff finally made it to the finish without any serious misfortune along the way on the Tour’s fourth stage and he very nearly won the day, getting just pipped at the line. Of course, misfortune aplenty struck on the fifth stage of the race, as crashes put him out of contention early, but Stage 6 will be a fresh opportunity. Given the potential for more rain (he tends to cope with bad weather very well), Kristoff should be in the mix.
FDJ’s Arnaud Demare looks to be coming around for the sprints after struggling with wrist pain early on. He should contend on Stage 6, as should Europcar’s Bryan Coquard, who has been in the Top 5 of every bunch sprint so far. He may not have much team support to guide him to the finish, but if he can make it to the last kilometer at the head of affairs he will be very dangerous.
Mark Renshaw of OPQS showed off his excellent overall form on the cobbled fifth stage, and he has filled in admirably as Cav’s replacement in the sprints. Another strong result could be in the cards for him on Stage 6. Trek’s Danny van Poppel, Movistar’s JJ Rojas, Lampre-Meridas’s Davide Cimolai, IAM Cycling’s Heinrich Haussler, and Garmin-Sharp’s Ramunas Navardauskas will be other fringe contenders.
VeloHuman Stage Favorites
1. Marcel Kittel | 2. Peter Sagan | 3. Andre Greipel
Be sure follow @VeloHuman on Twitter for live commentary on this and every stage of the 2014 Tour de France! The next preview will be up after the conclusion of Stage 6, so stay tuned. In case you missed it, the overall Tour de France preview can be found here.
-Dane Cash
Leave a Reply