Stage 6 - Win Win Situation for Cavendish

Another win for Cav then, with a text-book display of sprinting. He seems to be back on form and might still be able to get his hands on the green jersey if he can get enough wins.

For the moment though, that points jersey is still with Thor Hushovd. And he was heading up the all-important Velogames rider score table after stage 5.

The last couple of  "sprinters stages"  have seen things a bit more predictable in the bunch, and I'm glad to say we've had no one quit the race for the last two days. We are already down by ten men, and we've not even been going week yet....... it could be a small peloton in Paris. Robbie McEwen has had plenty of crashes so far in the race, and today he was taken out by a race worker just after the finish. Here's a video in Dutch which shows the scene. I don't speak Dutch, but I do know a pissed off Australian when I hear one.



If the dangers presented by the roads and wandering bystanders aren't enough, sometimes the riders like to have a good-old fashioned fight. Check out this display of fisticuffs between Carlos Barredo and Ruis Costa, which was something to do with a bit of contact in the last few km.



Anyway, enough with the sprinters. Stage 7 will see things start to get hilly. Not the sort of mountains where the GC contenders will be trying to get time on each other, but tough enough to keep the likes of Cav from being in the first group on the road. I'm hoping Thor might be able to hang in there, but it's pretty unlikely. It should be more of a day for a good classics rider. I'm going to tip that Nicolas Roche again, or maybe Lars Boom. And if Geraint Thomas can get to the finish in the lead-group, and Fabian Cancellara doesn't, we could see the young Welshman take the yellow jersey - that would be pretty cool.