Paris-Nice stage 6 LIVE – Four-man break being kept under control as riders approach hilly finale

1:25 is the gap, as the riders continue along the slightly uphill roads that carry on until the foot of the penultimate climb, the Col de l’Aire dei Masco, coming up in about 20km.

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The work of Cofidis continues to eat into the break’s lead. They’re now only about 1:25 behind.

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Still it’s a lone Cofidis rider who leads the race, with a mass of Visma-Lease a Bike behind him.

The peloton managed to reduce their deficit to the leaders on that climb, to 1:40. They still appear to have matters in control.

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Casper Pedersen didn’t manage to make it into the break today, meaning he doesn’t have the chance to take over again from Jonas Vingegaard at the top of that classification. These are what they look like now:

1 Jonas Vingegaard 26 points

2 Casper Pedersen 18 points

3 Mathis Le Berre 14 points

Arrieta leads the break over the top of the climb ahead of Kluckers and Tarling, with the peloton about 1:40 back.

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Simon Dehairs of Alpecin-Premier Tech has abandoned the race, becomming the 32nd to do so since the start of the race last weekend.

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The breakaway riders have begun tackling the 4.1% slopes of the 2.5km Côte de Bonnieux.

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Pinarello Q36.5’s Fabio Christen has become the latest rider to abandon the race.

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Josh Tarling is clearly the most powerful man on the flat in this break, as one of the world’s best time trialists. He might struggle more in relation to superior climbers Arrieta and Cras, now that the terrain is changing.

The peloton have kept the break at about two minutes, as they approach the foot of the climb.

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The peloton, being pulled along by Cofidis.

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The route is about to get harder and hillier, starting with the category three Côte de Bonnieux, which they are currently riding up an unclassified hill to the foot of.

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Jonas Vingegaard in the peloton, who received great praise from his teammate Victor Campanaerts for the way he rode for victor yesterday.

The race has settled into a pattern now, with the gap between the peloton and the leading quartet being held at 1:50.

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The four riders leading the race.

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The break’s lead is at 1:50. Although it is a strong group, four riders isn’t an especially big number. It will require a big effort from them to stay clear to the finish.

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Now the break has formed, it’s a good time to reflect on one of the fall-outs from yesterday. Following criticism earlier in the season from UAE Team Emirates – XRG’s João Almeida that accused Visma-Lease a Bike riders of being too quick to pull out of races, stage winner Jonas Vingegaard made some barbed comments pointing out Almeida’s absence from this race. There’s often tension between these two teams, and it seems another feud is brewing.

1:40 for the leaders now. It doesn’t seem like anyone else will be taking their place at the front of the race any time soon.

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We can probably start referring to these four leaders as the day’s break now. They’re lead has grown to 1:30, and things appear to have calmed down in the peloton.

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They won’t be taking on any of them today, but the riders can see mountains on the horizon, that awaits them come the final weekend of stages.

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Now it’s Cofidis who are pacing at the front of the peloton. Like NSN, they also have a sprinter who could potentially survive the climbs, in Bryan Coquard. Is there a feeling among teams in the peloton that this stage could be decided by a reduced bunch sprint?

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Ewen Costiou had been trying to bridge over to the leaders by himself, but that was a tall order, and he’s been swallowed up by the peloton.

The quartet lead the peloton by 40 seconds.

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There were nine riders between the peloton and the four leaders but they’ve now been brought back.

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The four riders leading the race.

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Oscar Onley is today’s biggest addition to the list of abandons. Here’s moe on his departure.

These four rider are showing some promise. They have a lead of 30 seconds.

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A group of four is the latest to try their luck, with Josh Tarling, Igor Arrieta, Arthur Kluckers and Steff Cras present.

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Niklas Märkl of Picnic PostNL has abandoned the race.

The attacks continue to come, but still no break has formed. The road will be pretty much flat for the upcoming 50km too, so there’s no obvious point for a selection to be made.

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It’s another action-packed day of cycling, with stage 5 of Tirreno-Adriatico also taking place. Be sure to follow along with our Live coverage of that race too.

In what has been another hectic start, no attacks have managed to stick yet.

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The climb has put pad to Bissegger and Gringnard’s hopes – they’ve both been caught.

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The riders are on the first climb of the day, the Côte de Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

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Still the fireworks continue in the peloton with more counter-attacks but Bissegger and Grignard remain out front for now, with a lead of about 15 seconds.

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More riders are trying to join them.

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Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Sébastien Grignard (Lotto Intermarché) are the latest couple of riders to get a small lead.

No break has formed yet, with just under 10m ridden.

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That sextet has been brought back.

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The peloton at the start a little earlier.

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Six attackers have come together and got a small gap over the peloton.

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Actually, it turns out that Onley has abandoned due to an illness, rather than lingering injuries from that crash. The Scot can’t catch a break right now.

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Four riders who finished yesterday have not made it to the start today – Oscar Onley, Iván Romeo, Julien Bernard and Rick Pluimers.

Onley had been looking so good until his crash on stage three, and even yesterday had the legs to help his teammate Kévin Vauquelin on the final climb, but that crash must be taking too much of a toll.

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Given the increased likelihood of a break surviving today, and remembering how long it raged for yesterday, we can anticipate another intense, drawn-out battle as riders try to get into the day’s break.

And they’re off!

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Race leader Jonas Vingegaard waiting at the unofficial start.

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It’s a warm, dry day here in France, and spirits appeared to be high among the Uno-X Mobility riders, pictured here messing around with a anana this morning.

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The riders are on the move and making their way to kilometre 0.

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For a reminder of how Jonas Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike triumphed yesterday, have a read of our report from yesterday.