MONT AIGOUAL - Kazakh Alexey Lutsenko claimed his maiden victory on the Tour de France when he won the sixth stage, a 191-km trek from Le Teil on Thursday.
The Astana rider prevailed from an eight-man breakaway at the top of the Mont Aigoual.
Spain's Jesus Herrada took second place, 55 seconds behind with Belgian Greg van Avermaet finishing third, 2:15 off the pace.
Briton Adam Yates retained the overall leader's yellow jersey after staying tucked in the main peloton, which crossed the line with a deficit of 2:53.
"We talked about it in the team bus this morning and we agreed that it was a stage that suited me," said Lutsenko, who broke clear in the punishing ascent to the Col de la Lusette, a 11.7km climb at an average gradient of 7.3%.
🎙 🇰![CDATA[]]>🇿 @AlexeyLutsenko3
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) September 3, 2020
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"It’s a very important moment for me, it’s the Tour de France, a beautiful and very important race, I’m very happy… I gave my all for this win"#TDF2020 pic.twitter.com/DG5cOHOtQn
Friday's seventh stage is a 168-km ride from Millau to Lavaur.
Reuters