Tour de France Stage 6 Results: Edvald Boasson Hagen Wins Lacklustre Day

The sixth stage of the 2011 Tour de France took the peloton from Dinan to Lisieux on the longest stage of this year’s Tour.

Although classified as a flat stage, there are three categorised climbs. The finish into Lisieux for the final sprint is again on an incline, making life hard for the pure sprinters and playing into the hands of riders like green-jersey holder Philippe Gilbert.

Mark Cavendish, in his post-stage interview after Stage 5, espoused his theory that these uphill finishes have been chosen specifically to try to reduce the advantage of HTC in the sprint.

It certainly sounds like a plausible reason.

Today’s stage had none of the drama of Stage 5.  Despite the fact that the race was hit with frequent showers, the riders all managed to remain upright and out of the ditches.

There was, as always, the early breakaway that managed to get out to eight minutes before being inexorably reeled in as the peloton wound up the speed coming into the finish.

The first five places in the intermediate sprint went to riders in the breakaway, but the scary sight for the serious sprint contenders was the way that HTC finally got the sprint lead-out sorted and Cavendish took the sprint for the remaining points with a very comfortable margin.

The breakaway, which had long since shattered, was finally reeled in with three kilometers to race.

The climb before the final sprint had knocked the wind out of the true sprinters and opened the stage up to power riders like Matt Goss from HTC and Thor Hushovd, but it was Sky’s Edvald Boasson Hagen who claimed the stage victory in his first Tour de France.

Tomorrow, another flat stage from Le Mans to Chateauroux and one better suited to the real sprinters.

After today’s stage, Thor Hushovd retained the yellow jersey, Philippe Gilbert the green jersey and Johnny Hoogerland the polka dot, King of the Mountains.

Standings After Stage 6

1. HUSHOVD Thor                 TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO         22h 50' 34"  
2. EVANS Cadel                    BMC RACING TEAM                       + 00' 01"
3. SCHLECK Frank                TEAM LEOPARD-TREK                   + 00' 04"
4. MILLAR David                    TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO             + 00' 08"
5. KLÖDEN Andréas              TEAM RADIOSHACK                       + 00' 10"
6. WIGGINS Bradley              SKY PROCYCLING                          + 00' 10"
7. THOMAS Geraint               SKY PROCYCLING                          + 00' 12"
8. HAGEN Edvald Boasson     SKY PROCYCLING                          + 00' 12"
9. FUGLSANG Jakob             TEAM LEOPARD-TREK                    + 00' 12"
10. SCHLECK Andy               TEAM LEOPARD-TREK                    + 00' 12"