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Teuns wins Tour's first summit finish as Ciccone takes yellow

By RFI
Sports News CHRISTIAN HARTMANNReuters
JUL 11, 2019 LISTEN
CHRISTIAN HARTMANN/Reuters

Belgium's Dylan Teuns has taken victory on stage 6 of the Tour de France on the La Planches des Belles Filles – the first gruelling summit finish of this year's edition. Giulio Ciccone of Italy took the overall leader's yellow jersey, with home favourite Julian Alaphilippe unable to match the pace. 

Teuns, riding for Bahrain-Merida, crossed the line ahead of Trek–Segafredo's Ciccone by a handful of seconds after a brutal 7km ascent with an average gradient of 8.7 percent, finishing on gravel.

Belgian Xandro Meurisse took third place.
Defending champion Geraint Thomas was the strongest of the overall contenders on the 160-km route from Mulhouse to La Planche des Belles Filles. He took fourth place, two seconds ahead of fifth-placed Thibaut Pinot of France.

Thomas broke from the main contenders in the final stages of the ultra-tough stage which was as expected decided on the last of seven climbs, with the Welshman gaining a few seconds over most of his rivals.

Pinot, who grew up 30 kilometres from the summit finish, was right on Thomas's tail, losing just a couple of seconds to the champion.

Three of the overall contenders though lost significant time as 2014 champion Vincenzo Nibali, Jumbo Visma captain Steven Kruijswijk and, to a greater extent, France's Romain Bardet suffered on the slopes.

(with AFP, Reuters)

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