German rider Andre Greipel won Thursday’s sixth stage of the Tour de France in a sprint finish and Daryl Impey became the first South African to wear the race leader’s yellow jersey.
In baking hot temperatures, Greipel surged ahead some 500 metres from the line and held off a strong challenge from Peter Sagan and Marcel Kittel.
“It was a very nervous stage today,” Greipel said. “We knew we could take it in the sprint and we were ready for that.”
Mark Cavendish was caught in a crash close to the end of the stage and wasted a lot of energy pedaling hard to rejoin the main pack. He finished fourth, the day after winning his 24th career Tour stage to close the gap on archrival Sagan in the contest for the sprinter’s green jersey.
Greipel’s win moved him above Cavendish and into second place, 29 points behind Sagan. Third-place Cavendish is 40 points behind Sagan. Another win for Cavendish would have tied him with Andre Leducq for third on the all-time list of stage winners at the 110-year-old race.
Perhaps feeling the effects of his spill, Cavendish lacked his usual powers of acceleration and couldn’t generate enough speed when he pulled out to the left and tried unsuccessfully to get around the three in front.
Impey took over the leader’s jersey from his Orica Greenedge teammate Simon Gerrans.
“It’s a historic day for South Africa, the first to wear a yellow jersey,” Impey said. “I’m really proud.”
The pack stayed together until the end of a 176.5-kilometer (110-mile) route from Aix-en-Provence to Montpellier that was totally flat, except for one small category 4 climb.
But that did not prevent more crashes on this year’s race.
With about 20 miles left, Cavendish was caught in a tangle at the back of the peloton involving members of the Belkin team. His white Omega Pharma-QuickStep jersey was torn and marked by the fall.
Cavendish, who won in Montpellier two years ago, had shaken off illness and a drop in form to earn his 24th career Tour stage win on Wednesday and close the gap on archrival Sagan.
Cavendish won the green jersey in 2011 but Sagan succeeded him last year, largely because Cavendish was working more to help Sky teammate Bradley Wiggins become the first British rider to win the Tour, rather than defending his own jersey.
Although the Tour route so far has not been particularly tough, there have been several crashes. There was a big pile up on Saturday’s hectic first stage and several riders were hurt in two separate spills on Wednesday.
Impey now faces a tougher challenge on Friday’s seventh stage from Montpellier to Albi, which features a four-mile category 2 climb up Col de la Croix de Mounis. It’s only the start of a demanding few days in the race.
The really hard climbs start as the route heads into the high mountains for the first time on Saturday’s eighth stage from Castres to Ax 3 Domaines in the Pyrenees — featuring a huge ascent up the notoriously difficult Col de Pailheres.