Kazakhstan's Alexey Lutsenko has claimed his maiden victory on the Tour de France by winning stage six, as Britain's Adam Yates retained the leader's yellow jersey.
Astana rider Lutsenko, a former U23 world champion, prevailed from an eight-man breakaway at the top of Mont Aigoual to add to his 2017 Vuelta a España stage win.
"We talked about it in the team bus this morning and we agreed that it was a stage that suited me," says Lutsenko. "This victory is very important for me - I've worked so hard to get this win."
Spain's Jesus Herrada took second place, 55 seconds behind, with Belgian Greg van Avermaet in third, 2m 15s off the pace.
Yates retained the overall leader's yellow jersey, after staying tucked in the main peloton, which crossed the line with a deficit of 2m 53s.
Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, who is third overall, suffered an untimely puncture in the climb up to the Col de la Lusette, but managed to regain his place in the peloton easily, thanks to the bunch's slow pace.
France's Julian Alaphilippe, who lost the yellow jersey when he was docked 20 seconds for taking a bottle inside the final 20km of stage five, sprinted late on to grab one second back.
George Bennett was the pick of the Kiwis, riding in support of second-placed Primoz Roglic and finishing in 50th, 3m 39s behind Lutsenko, while Jack Bauer and Sam Bewlyey were more than 31m behind.
Saturday's seventh stage is a 168km ride from Millau to Lavaur, which is expected to favour the sprint specialists.
Reuters
