Sixth stage of the 2019 Tour goes to sprinting Slovakian Sagan
PETER Sagan finally won, on the sixth stage of this year’s Tour de France into Colmar.
After several near misses the Slovakian missile finally took his first win in a reduced bunch sprint ahead of Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) and Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton Scott).
“You just have to be patient and the victory will come,” said Sagan. “I have to say thanks to all my teammates. They did a very, very great job, and finally victory came at the Tour de France for us,” Sagan said.
“We controlled the race all day, on the flat part until the finish. I did my best, and it just came. If I don’t win, then everybody is going to ask me what is missing. But see, nothing is missing.
“It’s just that everybody needs good luck and to have a good day for a win.”
The tough final 35km with two categorised climbs was too much for most of the pure sprinters such as Elia Viviani, Caleb Ewan, Alexander Kristoff and Dylan Groenewegen.
Sagan and Aussie Michael Matthews were touted as the likely winners, and while Sagan delivered, Matthews got a bit lost in the hustle and bustle of the finale.
Matthews’ Team Sunweb controlled the peloton over the final 30km, keeping the pace high so as not to let the dropped sprinters have a chance of coming back and to nullify all attacks.
“I’m not sure what these other guys are out here trying to do. Most of them should be in the boxing ring rather than a cycling race,” Matthews said.
“I guess that’s sprinting, it’s all part of it. I just wish I had a clear gap and clear wind to actually show my horsepower, but unfortunately I didn’t get that today.”
Matthews was well placed in the closing kilometres but lost crucial position when the peloton squeezed into a roundabout 500m from the finish.
“I needed better positioning into that final few hundred metres,” Matthews said.
“I think I was quite good, but everyone sort of did some crazy moves going into that final roundabout which really pushed me back a lot of places and then from then on it’s just a washing machine.
“The day pretty much went exactly how we dreamed. We got rid of a lot of the sprinters and they set me up good, but I just wasn’t in the right place at the right time. At the moment I’m getting a bit confused in the sprints for some reason.”
The break finally got clear after more than an hour of constant attacks and Australian Simon Clarke (EF Education) spent much of the day at the front of the race in a small four-man breakaway that was never given quite enough rope to really threaten for the win.
Richie Porte ( Trek Segafredo) was in good spirits when he crossed the line.
He also seemed to be looking forward to the big challenge of Stage 6.
“Look, it’s going to be a hard day and a hard one to control,” Porte said.
“But my team seems to be improving each day and I’m pretty pleased with how I’m going. I’m not sure any one person is going to stake a claim on winning the Tour tomorrow but there will be some contenders that will be disappointed.”
Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck Quickstep) never looked in any danger of losing his yellow jersey.