Tour de France 2022

Stage 6 – Binche > Longwy (219.9km)

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Stage 5 Result

1st Simon Clarke (250/1)

2nd Taco van der Hoorn (40/1)

3rd Edvald Boasson Hagen (200/1)

4th Neilson Powless (400/1)

Stage 5 Bets

1pt each way (4 places) Yves Lampaert @16/1

1pt each way (4 places) Jasper Stuyven @28/1 – 6th

0.5pts each way (4 places) Christophe Laporte @33/1

Absolute chaos. Some big prices in the result as the break made it all the way. Stuyven attacked with Pogačar about 25km out but couldn’t quite make the bridge. All of the chasing teams just ran out of men. Lampaert suffered a mechanical and found himself in a group off the back and that was it for him. Laporte was on full domestique duty as Jumbo-Visma had a nightmare, Roglič ultimately losing over 2mins to Pogačar.

Stage 6 Preview

After an attritional and often chaotic stage across the cobbles on stage 5, the riders take on the longest stage of this year’s Tour de France – almost 220km across a hilly parcours with a couple of stings in the tail.

The final 6km include an 800m rise at 12.3% then a 1.6km uphill run to the line that hits double-digits under the flamme rouge. That makes it unlikely a team will ride to bring back the break so we should see a big fight to get into it once the flag drops.

Stage 6 Contenders

With the first big mountain showdown on the Planche des Belles Filles due on Friday, GC teams may be looking for a calming day – a chance to regroup and nurse their wounds after the carnage of the cobbles on stage 5.

There will be many who had spills that were not caught on camera or called by race radio and injuries won’t necessarily come to light until later when riders tell their stories or we see them bandaged up in the morning. So there’s a certain amount of risk to the selections – we have to assume that if we haven’t seen or heard anything, they’re fine.

On balance, the break appears to have a good chance of being allowed to contest the final. We’re therefore looking for punchy riders that have time on GC and freedom from their teams to get up the road.

EF Education-Easypost had some strange tactics today with DS Jonathan Vaughters tweeting afterwards that it would be an ‘interesting’ post-race debrief. With two men in the break, Alberto Bettiol inexplicably hammered the pace on the front of the bunch and almost did for their chances. Had he agreed beforehand to help Tadej Pogačar? Who knows?

As it was, neither Magnus Cort or Neilson Powless got up to win but Bettiol probably contributed to Powless being denied the race lead and the yellow jersey. Assuming he’s not punished and forced to babysit Rigoberto Urán all day, this is a great stage for the Italian who looked in super shape in the recent Tour de Suisse. These long, lumpy days are perfect for him and he’s streetwise enough to finish them off. He opened at 66/1 but that was snapped up and is now a best-priced 28/1.

Stage 6 was described by the their assistant sports director, Andreas Klier, on the Cycling Podcast as “perfect” for Cort which ordinarily it would be. But he must be tired after making the break in all four road stages so far. He’ll no doubt try to get up the road to defend the mountains jersey but, as happened on stage 5, may run out of legs by the end.

EF aren’t done there as this stage also suits Ruben Guerreiro who was also in stellar form leading up to the Tour. He’s already had a couple of tumbles though which is factored in to his price of 50/1. Still, that looks a little big.

After a tough Giro d’Italia, Mathieu van der Poel admitted that he’s a shadow of himself at the moment. I can’t believe he won’t spring to life at some point, but at the moment just doesn’t have the legs.

Without a GC option, Trek-Segafredo are another team with multiple cards to play. Stage 5 pick Jasper Stuyven was a near miss and has impressed throughout the Tour so far. Mads Pedersen and Bauke Mollema are others that could definitely get involved.

But I like another at bigger odds. Quinn Simmons has been on solid domestique duty so far but should get a chance at some point in the race – and it could be here. He picked up the mountains jersey at the Tour de Suisse recently and he’s got zip in a finish, especially if it’s uphill. The American opened up at triple-figure odds but has since been halved in price. Clearly others are on the same page but the 66/1 about him is still decent enough for a small interest each way.

Bahrain Victorious lost their team leader Jack Haig on the cobbles and are likely now to throw men forward chasing stages. Matej Mohorič, Dylan Teuns and Jan Tratnik are all excellent options. Of the three, Mohorič is most favoured but is also quite short at a best price of 14/1.

There are plenty others that could be in the mix – Michael Matthews for BikeExchange-Jayco, Andrea Bagioli and Mikkel Honoré for QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl, Andreas Kron and Tim Wellens for Lotto Soudal and Victor Lafay for Cofidis all have excellent uphill kicks and plenty of time to play with on GC.

The favourite to win stage 6, as you might have guessed, is yellow jersey wearer Wout van Aert. He had an eventful day out on stage 5 – a fall before the cobbles even started, almost running into the back of a DSM team car, and then helping to save the day for Jonas Vingegaard. He’s short at 7/2 and, assuming he’s not allowed in the morning break, would have to rely on teammates pulling the break back before the final. Surely after the day they had – which included Primoz Roglič having to sit on a spectator’s chair to put his own shoulder back in – they might fancy a day off. But maybe not.

A few breakaway plays but this is another potentially random day where many results are possible.

Stage 6 Bets

1pt each way (3 places) Alberto Bettiol @28/1

1pt each way (4 places) Quinn Simmons @66/1

1pt win Matej Mohorič @14/1

1pt win Michael Matthews @18/1

Posted 2108 BST Wed 6th July 2022

Prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change - find the best prices available on the Tour de France at Oddschecker