Cavendish wins again on a day with no changes

A quiet day, few incidents and a new victory for Mark Cavendish in the 2021 Tour de France. The sprinter took the stage after a titanic effort by Van Avermaet that faded a kilometer from the finish line.

Quiet morning and Van Avermaet's breakaway

After all that happened yesterday at the Tour de France 2021, everything seemed much clearer today. Even the day: yesterday's rainy and wet weather turned into a clear day, with the sun shining. It seems that Pogacar had turned it on: his light has already begun to shine this year. He has gone from avoiding crashes to taking a sledgehammer. He was the best yesterday and by far. The fact that Van der Poel kept the yellow was circumstantial, but it's clear who has taken over as the undisputed favorite.

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Today's stage was a different story: another flat stage, like those of the first few days, 160 kilometers long and finishing in Chateauroux, but with a general calm. As if this crazy week had come to an end, as if the crashes had been a reason to calm the spirits.

Despite this, the day started with a breakaway, as usual. Naesen attacked and nothing. Van Avermaet attacked and was successful. Up to eight riders went with him, with notable names such as De Gendt or Asgreen. Good breakaway without a doubt, which took a minute in a breath despite the attempts of the peloton to prevent them from leaving, especially teams with sprinters like Arkea or Alpecin.

The best part of the show was when we saw disagreements in the breakaway group. Words, gestures. And in such a scenario, Van Avermaet had it clear: he attacked alone and gained half a minute.

Tremendous pace he put in, to which only Kluge was able to respond in the first instance. 50 per hour on average in the first hour, that says it all. With 70 kilometers to go, the gap between Van Avermaet and Kluge to the peloton was more than a minute and a half, and the Lotto rider was keeping up well with the clear favorite of the duo.

That's when the peloton changed the pace and the gap started to drop little by little. And that's when the race changed. With 20 kilometers to go, the multicolored snake had a shot at the escapees and made it clear that it wanted a sprint finish. It was a different race.

Last 20 kilometers and sprint finish

This Tour de France 2021 was to see its third sprint finish. Merlier and Cavendish have already tasted this year the sweet sweetness of victory by a sprint, and today the rest of the sprinters had the clear intention of taking their stage before the race became more complicated. But in the face of that reality, there were two titans trying to avoid it.

The peloton had Van Avermaet and Kluge within 17 seconds, but just then they lifted their foot, we're not sure why, and the pair of sprinters went back up to almost 40 seconds. They were gambling their chances, and that's always to be applauded.

The last 3 kilometers were too much for the breakaway. Great Van Avermaet, gritting his teeth. Such is the cruelty of this sport, we have already seen it in this Tour de France 2021. The sprint was spectacular in every way. Bouhanni was again left with honey on his lips because a new phenomenon has emerged, a new Cavendish. Second victory for him. He's on a roll, there's no doubt about it.

Great Cavendish. Otherwise, nothing new. Everything remains the same.

STAGE 6

1. Cavendish, M. - Deceuninck Quick Step | 3:17:36"
2. Philipsen, J. - Alpecin | m.t.
3. Bouhanni, N. - Arkea | m.t.

GENERAL RANKING

1. Van der Poel, M. - Alpecin | 16:51:41
2. Pogacar, T. - UAE Emirates | +8"
3. Van Aert, W. - Jumbo Visma | +30"