Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Pro Team) took his first Tour de France victory on stage 6 at the summit of Mont Aigoual. Lutsenko won the stage alone after being part of a decisive breakaway with Jesús Herrada (Cofidis Solutions Credits) taking second and Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team) finishing third.
The peloton averaged more than 50kph in the first part of the race when a breakaway of eight cleared the field involving Van Avermaet, who started the day only 3:17 down on GC, along with Lutsenko, Herrada, Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb), Neilson Powless (EF Pro Cycling), Edvald Boasson Hagen (NTT Pro Cycling), Daniel Oss (Bora-Hansgrohe), and Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-QuickStep).
The breakaway gained six minutes but that was significantly reduced over the day's final climbs at the category 1 Col de la Lusette and then up the finish line at Mont Aigoual.
Lutsenko broke clear of his breakaway riders to take the stage win. Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) finished with the main group of contenders at 2:52 behind Lutsenko and retained his overall lead heading into stage 7.
Watch the Tour de France stage 6 highlights video above.
