Tour de France 2024 - The complete guide
Tour de France 2024 favourites
Tour de France stage 6 results
Tour de France stage 7 preview
Küng had also set the fastest time at the first checkpoint, by a whopping 1 seconds. It's unlikely he'll be fastest at the second.
He had to slow down so much that Abrahamsen almost caught back up to him, having been passed earlier.
A problem now for Küng though! He has a problem with his chain and had to stop peddling while he fixed it.
Stefan Küng is on a mission. He's passed his minute man Jonas Abrahamsen, and the difference in speed between the two was stark.
Mads Pedersen is next to start. If firing on all cylinders, he might have gone all in today to try and win some more points in the green jersey competition, but he’ll likely take it easy and he continues to recover from his crash injuries.
At 29-44, Vauquelin is the first man to complete the course in under half an hour. It doesn't seem likely that many others will achieve that, and he could have a high finishing place at the end of the stage.
Fastest time by Kévin Vauquelin! He's gone 22 seconds quicker than Bissegger. What a Tour this young Frenchman is having.
A very big name at the start ramp now, as Stefan Küng starts his ride. Outside of the GC candidates, he's one of the top time trialists, and will be targetting this stage.
Vauquelin is quickest again at the third checkpoint. He should be in the hotseat soon...
Victor Campanaerts has just rolled off the start ramp. He said at the start of the day that he wasn't going to hold back today, so expect a good time from the former hour record holder and European time trial champion.
Kévin Vauquelin is flying! She's smashed Bissegger's time at the second check by 30 seconds.
Good ride by Oier Lazkano, who's come into the finish with the second fastest time. Though it's a distant second, 27 seconds behind Bissegger, it's clear he's still in good form following his excellent showing at the Dauphine, and is a good shout for a stage win sometime later in the race.
Kévin Vauquelin is on the road and going fast. He's posted the second fastest time at the first checkpoint, and could threaten Bissegger.
The rare sight here of Mathieu van der Poel in his Alpecin colours - as this is a time trial rather than a road race, he’s not wearing his usual world champion’s jersey.
A good ride by Raúl García Pierna, who has ousted Michael Matthews at the finish to set the second fastest time. That’s an eye-catching performance from the 23-year-old Tour debutant, who clearly has some talent against the clock.
Michael Matthews has just finished, with the second fastest time, 40 seconds slower than Bissegger. He hasn't featured in any of the sprints so far, working instead for Groenewegen, but looks in good form today.
There was a dodgy moment at he nearly lost his balence around the final corner, but that's a very fast time by Bissegger. It could be a while until somebody challenges him.
And he arrives 42 seconds faster!
Politt's not even going to have time to get to the hot seat, however, as Bissegger is arriving now...
Ahead of him, Nils Politt has just ousted Durbridge on the hot seat, with a time 25 seconds quicker. The German clearly isn't holding back, on one of the few days he isn't tasked with looking after Pogacar.
Not long now until Bissegger arrives on the finishing straight, having set the fastest time again at the third checkpoint.
It doesn't seem like Durbridge will be there for long, however. Bissegger has beaten his time at the second intermediate check by 14 seconds.
...and he sets the fastest time so far. He'll replace Martinez in the hot seat.
Here comes Durbridge towards the finish...
Bissegger has set the fastest time at the first time check, a fraction of a second quicker than Durbridge.
Martinez's time might be coming under threat, though. Luke Durbdridge has just made it to the top of the climb at the second checkpoint, a whole 20 seconds quicker than the Frenchman.
Axel Zingle arrives at the finish, in second place. He's 22 seconds slower than Martinez.
One of the proper time trial specialists has just started his ride - Stefan Bissegger. While most riders have been taking it relatively easy, the Swiss will be all in for this.
It seems Martinez flew up the climb ahead of the second checkpoint. Though Zingle, Van den Berg and Lampaert were quicker than him at the first, his time has held their challenge at the second.
Lampaert is on the climb now. The Frenchman is one of the few here with the distinction of having won a time trial at the Tour de France, from two years ago when he won the opening stage - the greatest day of his career. He doesn't seem so fully committed today, however.
The times are getting faster at the first check point. Sébastien Grignard, Yves Lampaert, Axel Zingle and Marijn van den Berg have all reached it faster than Martinez.
Martinez has just arrived at the finish, and sets the fastest time of the day so far, just under a minute faster than Davide Ballerini.
Cav's just been interviewed at the finish, and sounds in good spirits. He said he had to go hard to make sure the time limit won't be a problem, but still had some fun with his Astana teammates as they raced to try and beat each other.
Biniam Girmay is out on the road, resplendent in the green jersey. He’s enjoyed a terrific Tour so far, and this will be one of the few days he isn’t obliged to chase green jersey points.
Lenny Martinez looks committed as he goes through the second checkpoint. Having been one second behind Fedorov at the first, he's now over 30 seconds quicker.
Happy birthday to Alexander Kristoff, who's just set off! He seriously impressed two days ago to place third in the sprint the day Cavendish won - he might have just turned 37, but has still got it.
It doesn't seem as if Wærenskjold is fussed about riding a good time. He moves out of his aero position on the climb to wave at the crowd.
Martinez has just gone through the first checkpoint, one second slower than Fedorov.
Jasper Philipsen has begun his ride. He’ll be seething after his relegation yesterday, and won’t make up any ground in the points classification he fell further behind in as a result of that relegation.
Yevgeniy Fedorov is comfortably the fastest of the nine riders to have come through so far the first checkpoint. He posted a time of 11-02, 8 seconds quicker than Dan McClay.
Yesterday's winner Dylan Groenewegen is next off. That victorious ride means he’s now won in five different Tours de France.
Back with Cavendish, who's on the route's climb. It's quite a steep one, with the gradient hovering around 7 - 8%, but not especially long.
Now comes Søren Wærenskjold, wearing the Norwegian national champions jersey. He won a time trial at the Belgium Tour recently, so could set an early benchmark.
Now Lenny Martinez starts for Groupama FDJ. It really is a surprise to see him this far down on GC. He did a very good ride at the Tour de Suisse, where he placed sixth overall, so could do a good ride if he's ridden himself into some form these past few days.
Yevgeniy Fedorov is the latest rider to roll down the start ramp. That means five of the seven riders currently out on the road are from Astana - they’re all rooted at the bottom of the GC, having held back to help and support Cavendish during his difficult opening days.
Fabio Jakobsen has just set off. He's suffered alongside the Manxman in the opening days of the Tour, albeit to less attention, but has looked better in the sprints, finishing seventh and fifth on Monday and Wednesday respectively.
And we're off! Cav rolls down the start ramp to get this time trial started.
Cavendish is at the start ramp now. He's got a big smile on his face - this will be a nice, leisurely day for him.
For other riders, today will be a stage of trepidation. There are some GC riders who will fear this stage more than any other. Carlos Rodríguez, for instence, last year lost time to all four of the riders who ultimatley finished above him on GC, and is vulnerable to more losses today.
With so many quality time trialists among the GC candidates, it's going to be tough for specialists against the clock to be in the mix for a stage win, but they will give it a go. Stefan Küng stands out as a man who could challenge them. He was denied a time trial stage win in 2021 only by Tadej Pogačar, and missed out on World gold medal by a mere two seconds to Tobias Foss the year after.
Mark Cavendish will be the first off the start rap in just over twenty minutes. The Manxman is last place on GC after his troubles during the first few days of the race - not that he will care in the slightest having won his historic 35th stage win.
Expect to see some new equipment being used by Vingegaard and the Visma-Lease a Bike squad as Cervélo unveils their new TT bike. Whether you'll be able to tell the difference after the subtle changes, however, is a different question:
Jonas Vingegaard has been out on his recon of the course this morning. He'll be the in his Visma-Lease a Bike team skinsuit while Pogačar and Evenepoel are forced to wear that of the race organiser due to their classification leads. How much of an advantage will that give the Dane and how will his body respond to the first ITT back from injury? Not long left until we find out.
Van Aert hit back at Philipsen's actions, calling it a "habit of his" when speaking to Sporza, but Philipsen apologised this morning, stating that he "would never consciously ride in such a way that it endangered another rider". Read both stories below:
The bigger story of yesterday's sprint, however, was Jasper Philipsen being relegated for deviating in his sprint. Read about how and why he got declassified down to 107th and the other ways the UCI are cracking down on sprints at the Tour de France in 2024:
You can also read the report from yesterday's sprint stage to catch up with how Dylan Groenewegen won into Dijon:
There will be lots of national champions kits on show, here's Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) in the Swiss jersey.
An awful lot of prep goes into ensuring the skinsuit setup is perfect for those in classification jerseys, with the yellow jersey holder forced not into wearing what would have been a custom setup from his team's kit manufacturer. Here's Santini getting Pogačar ready for stage 7:
Race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) has also been calling Evenepoel the out-and-out favourite for the day, despite his incredible duo of performances in the two time trials at the Giro d'Italia. He heads into the day with a 45-second advantage on Evenepoel who sits second on GC after 6 stages.
It's set to be a huge day for Evenepoel who is on debut at the Tour de France. With favourite status for today's stage, can he live up to the billing as the time trial World Champion?
To get a full understanding of what's in store for the day's action, read one of our team on the ground in France Dani Ostanek's pre-race preview which sets the scene for stage 7:
With just over an hour and a half to the first rider Mark Cavendish rolling off the ramp, it's the perfect chance to catch up on the TT start times for today (CEST):
Here we go then, one of the most important days at the 2024 Tour de France - the first individual time trial. The solo race against the clock has long been known as the 'race of truth', with nowhere to hide in the bunch throughout the painful effort.
Bonjour and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 6 of the 2024 Tour de France!