Today at the start of the sixth stage, that of the Mur-de-Bretagne double, Peter Sagan, after having achieved an encore on yesterday's finish line in Quimper, will wear the green jersey of leader of the points classification for the ninetieth time, surpassing the record set by many years held by Eric Zabel who between 1996 and 2007 carried it for 89 days. But there is another record of the German Zabel that Sagan aims to match in this Tour: to bring his sixth green jersey to Paris.
Objective that the world champion is pursuing with an iron determination highlighted by the results obtained in this start of the Tour: five stages, two victories, two second places behind Fernando Gaviria, an impressive roadmap that justifies the little relaxation that Sagan he is taken in the team time trial, letting himself be detached from the train of his companions from Bora-Hansgrohe.
Yesterday, in a sort of Liège-Bastogne-Liège that the organizers of the Tour have designed up and down the narrow streets of the Brittany hills, Sagan was among the big favorites and the Slovak did not disappoint on a course that immediately put all the pure sprinters were out of the game – Kittel even finished penultimate by more than 20 minutes in a group that also included Mark Cavendish.
When even Lilian Calmejane, protagonist together with Sylvain Chavanel of the escape that animated the stage, was reached about 10 km from the finish by the group of about thirty riders including all the big names, it was understood that victory would hardly have escaped to Sagan.
Of rivals who could worry him in the sprint, only the Italian Sonny Colbrelli remained, rather he had to beware of finisseurs of the caliber of Gilbert, Alaphilippe and Greg Van Avermaet in the yellow jersey, without losing sight of old and indomitable foxes like Valverde or Nibali himself.
And it was Gilbert himself who attempted the lunge at the signal of the "flame rouge" of the last km. but Sagan was good at tapping it just as the road narrowed and the incline increased. In the last 250 metres, the world champion in the green jersey released his power which was devastating for everyone. In the final cue Gilbert was also overtaken by Colbrelli who finished second one car behind Sagan. Fourth was Valverde, fifth Alaphilippe.
Van Avermaet, seventh at the finish line, remains in yellow with 2" on Van Garderen and 3" on Gilbert, a very short classification which sees around fifteen riders collected in less than a minute and which could have a shuffle today with the arrival in summit of Mur-de-Bretagne, a 2-kilometre climb, the last of which with a gradient of more than 10%.
