Stage 6 of the Tour de France, way over in the Vosges mountains near the German border, and the first big hill climbs to start sorting out contenders from also-rans.
A young French rider, Julien Alaphillipe, held the yellow jersey for several days, actually the first French holder of the yellow in five years. But today a breakaway group stayed away from the peloton, and Belgian Dylan Teuns, mostly a bit player, led them across the finish line for the stage victory and the guy right behind, Ciccone of Italy, took over the yellow jersey for the best overall time.
Meanwhile our Canadians are doing fine. Michael Woods, climbing like a bird, is ninth overall. His teammate Rigoberto Uran is right behind him, but their third hill climber the American Tejay Van Garderen, cracked today and finished seven minutes behind, Meanwhile Hugo Houle is nowhere in the standings, but his team leader Jacob Fuglang, stands eleventth and in close contention, so Houle is doing his job unnoticed and unhonoured.
Still a very long way to go. I'd like to see some more Frenchmen carrying the yellow, but their best prospects Tibeault Pinot, Fabien Bardet and Warren Barguil, could not keep up today, leaving Alaphillipe as the best hope, maybe. Meanwhile Geraint Thomas, last year's winner did very well, as did his team. He's contending.
