Four Latino cyclists managed to sneak into the top 20 of the general classification of the Critérium du Dauphiné, after running the sixth stage of the tour, won by Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché – Circus – Wanty) after a break that he crowned after 170.1 kilometers between Nantua and Crest-Voland.
The German rider ended up being the best breakaway of the day and left Frenchman Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) for second place, while Spanish Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos Grenadiers) finished third. The Danish Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) kept the leader’s jersey without problems.
The group of favorites, with the four Latino cyclists included, entered 48 seconds behind the winner. The Colombian Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) was the best beetle in box 13, while the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) finished in 18th place, the Colombian Esteban Chaves (EF Education-EasyPost) was in box 19 and Daniel Felipe Martínez (Ineos Grenadiers) in seat 21.
The peloton faced a difficult mountain stage up to Crest-Voland. In the last kilometers of the stage, the Col des Aravis (7.7 kilometers at 6 percent), the Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Bellecombe (3.2 km at 6.1%) and the final climb (2 .3 km at 6.6%) towards the Crest-Voland Ski Area were the main obstacles.
The escape of the day was led by Nans Peters, Jonathan Castroviejo, Andrea Bagioli, Andrey Amador, Georg Zimmermann, Matteo Jorgenson, Matteo Trentin, Axel Zingle, Lawson Craddock, Mathieu Burgaudeau, Matteo Vercher, Simon Guglielmi and Alexis Vuillermoz. In the end, only three managed to get ahead of the favourites.
In the general classification, Daniel Felipe Martínez rose to seventh place, Esteban Chaves took three steps forward and is twelfth, while Egan Bernal moved up four places to 15th place. Olympic champion Carapaz closes the top 20 list at 3:16 leader minutes.
The French race will continue this Saturday with the seventh stage, a 147.9-kilometre high mountain section that will end at the Col de la Croix de Fer (1st Category with 13.1 km at 6.2%). In the half the runners will face the alpine giant of the Col de la Madeleine (Special Category with 25.1 km at 6.2%).