Day 6 of Le Tour - More Climbs and a Steep Finish

Day Six of Le Tour finally pulls us away from the Atlantic and across the top of France, heading toward the cobbles of Roubaix on Day 9. Still, today's stage has its' challenges, not least of which is a lot of up and down and a challenging final few kilometres as they head to the Mur-de-Bretagne, a steep 2 kilometre climb for the final stretch. This is not a day for the sprinters, and this end point has history - Cadel Evans won here in 2011. 

Although today's stage starts quietly, the ending
is anything BUT. There are only four categorized
climbs today, and three of the four are Cat 3, but
that final 2k at the end will be painful. 

Yesterday's stage turned into an exciting ride with some crashes and a lot of very sore legs by the end of the day. Peter Sagan came through with the win in decisive style on the short incline, but the lead passed through several different riders through the day. Greg Van Avermaet retains the overall lead and the Yellow Jersey heading into today. Chris Froome is behind Van Avermaet by 57 seconds, but that will all turn to dust in the larger mountain stages still to come. 

Here's your final peak today. Two kilometres
at the very end of the ride. Look at that
black on the profile - That's the steep part. Ouch! 

As I mentioned earlier, we're starting our move across the top of France now, so wave good-bye to the flats and hello to topography. It's starting to get real now! 

A quick note to all of my friends in the UK. So sorry about England's loss in the soccer semi-finals, but what a great game. I'm happy for my friends in Croatia and in France as they look forward to Sunday's final match. 

Have a wonderful Thursday. I'll be working for twelve of the the next fourteen days while Chickie takes a week off. I probably didn't cherish yesterday's "day off" quite as much as I should have - LOL. I'll be back tomorrow, enjoy Le Tour.