Romain Bardet leaned over his handlebars and stared forlornly at the gravel beneath his front wheel. An AG2R La Mondiale soigneur draped a towel around his neck and then took a step backwards, perhaps wary of intruding on his disappointment. Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) offered a consolatory pat on the back as he came past, but Bardet was oblivious, buried in his own distress.
The dust had yet to settle atop La Planche des Belles Filles, but the kilometre or so of rough road at the end of stage 6 had already seemed to offer a clear verdict on Bardet's Tour de France chances. The Frenchman lost a little over a minute to defending champion Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) and now lies 2:08 behind the Welshman in the overall standings. The gradient in the final 300 metres on Thursday grazed 24 per cent; Bardet's path to the yellow jersey in Paris is at this point considerably steeper.
In keeping with recent Tours, the main selection came at the back of the group of favourites rather than off the front. Others to suffer setbacks of varying degrees on La Planche included Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), who lost 51 seconds to Thomas in those vertiginous final metres, and Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma), who conceded over half a minute on the same stretch of road. Alejandro Valverde's status as domestique de luxe at Movistar, meanwhile, was confirmed by his work on the front for Mikel Landa and Nairo Quintana early on the climb, and by his subsequent concession of 1:20 in the finale.
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Up ahead, the picture was hardly clear cut. Geraint Thomas' seated surge in the final 350 metres allayed some concerns about his truncated build-up to the race, and the Welshman will be buoyed by being the best of the GC men on the race's first mountain-top finish, coming home fourth, 1:44 down on stage winner Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida).
Thomas also picked up nine seconds on teammate Egan Bernal to move four seconds ahead of the Colombian overall – a timely reminder, perhaps, that he is the senior partner in their co-leadership arrangement. He is now the best placed of the favourites on the GC, lying fifth overall, 49 seconds behind new yellow jersey Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo).
Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) confirmed his fine start to the Tour by coming home two seconds behind Thomas, while the bulk of the podium contenders inched across the line a further smattering of seconds back. Most of those who finished within sight of Thomas will have come away feeling relatively content with their afternoon's work.
Movistar
Alaphilippe
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