Greipel claims TDF Stage 6

Reims - Andre Greipel has admitted he was relieved after finally returning to sprint form to claim Thursday's sixth stage of the Tour de France in style.

The German had been out of sorts in sprints so far during the Tour, managing one sixth-placed finish on Tuesday's fourth stage while compatriot Marcel Kittel dazzled, winning three of the opening four stages.

"There were two sprints where I couldn't compete for different reasons but today I was really motivated and focussed to have a good position for the sprint. I'm really happy the pressure's off for the stage win," said the 31-year-old, who took his total tally to six Tour stage wins.

"Of course, it's a big relief for us (Lotto-Belisol), there was a lot of pressure on our shoulders because we worked really hard this week but for different reasons it didn't work out."

His victory ahead of Norway's Alexander Kristoff in second and Samuel Dumoulin of France in third was the fourth by German riders in six stages of this year's Tour.

However, until now it was the giant figure of Kittel who had dominated.

On Thursday his Giant-Shimano team were strangely absent from the leading positions in the run-in and Kittel himself suffered a puncture before the final kilometre that put him out of the reckoning.

But Greipel dismissed his compatriot's misfortune as a factor in his win.

"I'm not looking at Kittel, I don't know what happened with him. I don't need to hide, I'm still one of the fastest in the bunch.

"I just need to be there at the right time in the right place."

Race leader Vincenzo Nibali kept hold of the yellow jersey as he and the rest of the overall contenders finished safely in a reduced peloton.

The 29-year-old Italian said he was relieved to have come through these first six stages unscathed but said he wasn't getting carried away by his prospects of overall victory, despite holding a lead of more than two minutes on most of his main rivals.

"These are very difficult days because you use a lot of energy. There is incredible stress and crashes are a consequence of that," he said.

"I'll say it again, it's a long path so I'll keep my feet on the ground and stay calm."

Nibali's Astana teammate Jakob Fuglsang is second at 2sec with green jersey holder Peter Sagan, who was fifth on the stage, third at 44sec.

Young Polish rider Michal Kwiatkowski, who made an audacious lone bid for victory from more than a kilometre out before being caught at around the 400m mark, remains fourth at 50sec.

An early four-man breakaway failed to ignite a stage that had a sense of anti-climax following the drama of Wednesday's cobbled stage.

Thomas Leezer, Arnaud Gerard, Jerome Pineau and Luis Mate did a valiant job of staying clear on a along 194km stage from Arras to Reims.

Mate lasted the longest but was reeled in with 12km left, taking away the combativity prize for the day as his reward.

Things only got heated in the final 10km when the pace rose and crosswinds contributed to a split in the peloton.

French champion Arnaud Demare was caught out, as well as his compatriot Thibaut Pinot, the top French hope in the general classification who lost another minute to Nibali and now sits almost 3min 30sec back.

Without Kittel it was anyone's sprint to win but Greipel, hitherto out of sorts in the sprints, launched his sprint finish early and powered through nonetheless.

"At 250m to go I said to myself 'I have to go now'. It worked well, I had really good punch today," said the victor.

Results from the sixth stage of Tour de France, a 194km ride from Arras to Reims on Thursday:

Stage:
1. Andre Greipel (GER/LTB) 4h11min 39sec
2. Alexander Kristoff (NOR/KAT) at 0:00.
3. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/ALM) 0:00.
4. Mark Renshaw (AUS/OPQ) 0:00.
5. Peter Sagan (SVK/CAN) 0:00.
6. Romain Feillu (FRA/BSE) 0:00.
7. Tom Veelers (NED/GIA) 0:00.
8. Bryan Coquard (FRA/EUC) 0:00.
9. Sep Vanmarcke (BEL/BKN) 0:00.
10. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA/IAM) 0:00.
11. Daniel Oss (ITA/BMC) 0:00.
12. Cyril Lemoine (FRA/COF) 0:00.
13. Greg Van Avermaet (BEL/BMC) 0:00.
14. Fabian Cancellara (SWI/TRE) 0:00.
15. Jakob Diemer Fuglsang (DEN/AST) 0:00.
16. Tom Dumoulin (NED/GIA) 0:00.
17. Andrew Talansky (USA/GRM) 0:00.
18. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/AST) 0:00.
19. Jack Bauer (NZL/GRM) 0:00.
20. Alberto Contador (ESP/TIN) 0:00.

Overall:
1. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/AST) 24h38min 25sec
2. Jakob Diemer Fuglsang (DEN/AST) at 0:02.
3. Peter Sagan (SVK/CAN) 0:44.
4. Michal Kwiatkowski (POL/OPQ) 0:50.
5. Fabian Cancellara (SWI/TRE) 1:17.
6. Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL/LTB) 1:45.
7. Tony Gallopin (FRA/LTB) 1:45.
8. Richie Porte (AUS/SKY) 1:54.
9. Andrew Talansky (USA/GRM) 2:05.
10. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 2:11.
11. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) 2:11.
12. Romain Bardet (FRA/ALM) 2:11.
13. Rui Costa (POR/LAM) 2:11.
14. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 2:16.
15. Tom Dumoulin (NED/GIA) 2:25.
16. Yury Trofimov (RUS/KAT) 2:25.
17. Bauke Mollema (NED/BKN) 2:27.
18. Alberto Contador (ESP/TIN) 2:37.
19. Jan Bakelants (BEL/OPQ) 2:39.
20. Peter Velits (SVK/BMC) 2:44.
21. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 3:24.
22. Michael Albasini (SWI/ORI) 3:29.
23. Jean Christophe Peraud (FRA/ALM) 3:29.
24. Tiago Machado (POR/APP) 3:59.
25. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP/TRE) 3:59.
26. Marco Marcato (ITA/CAN) 4:08.
27. Mathias Frank (SWI/IAM) 4:13.
28. Chris Horner (USA/LAM) 4:13.
29. Laurens ten Dam (NED/BKN) 4:13.
30. Mikel Nieve (ESP/SKY) 4:28.
31. Leopold Knig (CZE/APP) 4:45.
32. Paul Voss (GER/APP) 5:07.
33. Jens Keukeleire (BEL/ORI) 5:40.
34. Bram Tankink (NED/BKN) 5:45.
35. Pierre Rolland (FRA/EUC) 6:17.
36. Tanel Kangert (EST/AST) 6:31.
37. Cyril Gautier (FRA/EUC) 6:36.
38. Steven Kruijswijk (NED/BKN) 7:46.
39. Brice Feillu (FRA/BSE) 9:10.
40. Frank Schleck (LUX/TRE) 9:12.
41. Simon Clarke (AUS/ORI) 9:12.
42. Daniel Oss (ITA/BMC) 9:20.
43. Martin Elmiger (SWI/IAM) 9:25.
44. Arthur Vichot (FRA/FDJ) 9:25.
45. Ben Gastauer (LUX/ALM) 12:01.
46. Jrgen Roelandts (BEL/LTB) 12:20.
47. Matteo Trentin (ITA/OPQ) 12:23.
48. Andriy Grivko (UKR/AST) 12:50.
49. Michael Schr (SWI/BMC) 13:06.
50. Greg Van Avermaet (BEL/BMC) 13:08.
51. Michael Rogers (AUS/TIN) 13:20.
52. Jos Joaquin Rojas (ESP/MOV) 13:58.
53. Tony Martin (GER/OPQ) 14:18.
54. Gregory Rast (SWI/TRE) 14:34.
55. Nicolas Roche (IRL/TIN) 15:15.
56. Michal Golas (POL/OPQ) 15:47.
57. Cyril Lemoine (FRA/COF) 16:31.
58. Kristijan Durasek (CRO/LAM) 16:55.
59. Matthew Hayman (AUS/ORI) 17:22.
60. Alexander Kristoff (NOR/KAT) 18:19.
61. Johan Van Summeren (BEL/GRM) 18:42.
62. John Gadret (FRA/MOV) 18:43.
63. Nlson Oliveira (POR/LAM) 19:21.
64. Lieuwe Westra (NED/AST) 19:22.
65. Fabio Sabatini (ITA/CAN) 19:26.
66. Jos Herrada Lopez (ESP/MOV) 19:30.
67. Simon Gerrans (AUS/ORI) 20:25.
68. Koen de Kort (NED/GIA) 20:30.
69. Lars Boom (NED/BKN) 20:58.
70. Daniele Bennati (ITA/TIN) 21:06.
71. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/ALM) 21:17.
72. Mark Renshaw (AUS/OPQ) 21:33.
73. Alexander Porsev (RUS/KAT) 21:33.
74. Maciej Bodnar (POL/CAN) 22:01.
75. Maarten Wijnants (BEL/BKN) 22:03.
76. Sbastian Langeveld (NED/GRM) 22:54.
77. Marcus Burghardt (GER/BMC) 23:15.
78. Dmitriy Gruzdev (KAZ/AST) 23:15.
79. Sep Vanmarcke (BEL/BKN) 23:21.
80. Marcel Wyss (SWI/IAM) 23:24.
81. Bartosz Huzarski (POL/APP) 23:27.
82. Jon Izagirre (ESP/MOV) 23:36.
83. Bernhard Eisel (AUT/SKY) 23:39.
84. Heinrich Haussler (AUS/IAM) 24:03.
85. Kvin Reza (FRA/EUC) 24:03.
86. Niki Terpstra (NED/OPQ) 24:38.
87. Tom Veelers (NED/GIA) 24:41.
88. Darwin Atapuma (COL/BMC) 24:41.
89. Alexandre Pichot (FRA/EUC) 24:47.
90. Matteo Montaguti (ITA/ALM) 25:06.
91. Bryan Coquard (FRA/EUC) 25:34.
92. Anthony Delaplace (FRA/BSE) 25:46.
93. Marcel Sieberg (GER/LTB) 25:55.
94. Sbastien Reichenbach (SWI/IAM) 26:09.
95. Tom Slagter (NED/GRM) 26:10.
96. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA/IAM) 26:24.
97. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA/FDJ) 26:26.
98. Markel Irizar (ESP/TRE) 26:33.
99. Rudy Molard (FRA/COF) 26:57.
100. Jrme Pineau (FRA/IAM) 27:00.
101. Maxim Iglinskiy (KAZ/AST) 27:12.
102. Simon Yates (ENG/ORI) 27:14.
103. Amal Moinard (FRA/BMC) 27:39.
104. Yohann Gene (FRA/EUC) 27:40.
105. Kristjan Koren (SLO/CAN) 27:49.
106. Adam Hansen (AUS/LTB) 28:14.
107. Michele Scarponi (ITA/AST) 28:20.
108. Alessandro De Marchi (ITA/CAN) 28:54.
109. Lars Ytting Bak (DEN/LTB) 29:16.
110. Peter Stetina (USA/BMC) 29:34.
111. Sbastien Minard (FRA/ALM) 29:56.
112. Roger Kluge (GER/IAM) 30:21.
113. Jens Voigt (GER/TRE) 30:24.
114. Rafael Valls (ESP/LAM) 30:26.
115. Giovanni Visconti (ITA/MOV) 30:29.
116. Rubn Plaza (ESP/MOV) 30:40.
117. Zakkari Dempster (AUS/APP) 30:41.
118. Imanol Erviti (ESP/MOV) 30:46.
119. Jos Serpa Perez (COL/LAM) 30:49.
120. Daniel Navarro (ESP/COF) 30:57.
121. Stef Clement (NED/BKN) 31:04.
122. Jean-Marc Bideau (FRA/BSE) 31:10.
123. Ramunas Navardauskas (LTU/GRM) 31:25.
124. Yukiya Arashiro (JPN/EUC) 31:53.
125. Jack Bauer (NZL/GRM) 32:17.
126. Tom Leezer (NED/BKN) 32:17.
127. Julien Simon (FRA/COF) 32:26.
128. Florian Vachon (FRA/BSE) 32:34.
129. Egoitz Garca (ESP/COF) 32:46.
130. Benat Intxausti (ESP/MOV) 33:03.
131. Reto Hollenstein (SWI/IAM) 33:31.
132. Svein Tuft (CAN/ORI) 33:35.
133. Arnold Jeannesson (FRA/FDJ) 34:03.
134. Jan Brta (CZE/APP) 34:06.
135. Luke Durbridge (AUS/ORI) 34:06.
136. Jeremy Roy (FRA/FDJ) 34:11.
137. Andreas Schillinger (GER/APP) 34:17.
138. John Degenkolb (GER/GIA) 34:23.
139. Vladimir Isaichev (RUS/KAT) 34:49.
140. Benjamin King (USA/GRM) 34:59.
141. Florian Guillou (FRA/BSE) 35:02.
142. Simon Spilak (SLO/KAT) 35:11.
143. Matteo Tosatto (ITA/TIN) 35:20.
144. Gatis Smukulis (LAT/KAT) 35:58.
145. Vasil Kiryienka (BLR/SKY) 37:09.
146. Nicolas Edet (FRA/COF) 37:09.
147. Luca Paolini (ITA/KAT) 37:29.
148. Andr Greipel (GER/LTB) 37:34.
149. Jean-Marc Marino (FRA/CAN) 37:47.
150. Roy Curvers (NED/GIA) 38:12.
151. Marcel Kittel (GER/GIA) 38:28.
152. Alex Howes (USA/GRM) 38:28.
153. Janier Acavedo (COL/GRM) 38:31.
154. Christian Meier (CAN/ORI) 38:45.
155. Perrig Quemeneur (FRA/EUC) 38:46.
156. Michael Morkov (DEN/TIN) 39:18.
157. David Lopez (ESP/SKY) 39:36.
158. William Bonnet (FRA/FDJ) 39:46.
159. Danny van Poppel (NED/TRE) 40:19.
160. Mickael Delage (FRA/FDJ) 40:29.
161. Benoit Jarrier (FRA/BSE) 41:25.
162. Armindo Fonseca (FRA/BSE) 41:37.
163. Davide Cimolai (ITA/LAM) 41:43.
164. Jos Mendes (POR/APP) 41:49.
165. Romain Feillu (FRA/BSE) 42:11.
166. Rein Taaramae (EST/COF) 42:11.
167. Cedric Pineau (FRA/FDJ) 42:17.
168. Danny Pate (USA/SKY) 42:40.
169. Dries Devenyns (BEL/GIA) 43:22.
170. Matthew Busche (USA/TRE) 43:46.
171. Albert Timmer (NED/GIA) 43:54.
172. Sergio Paulinho (POR/TIN) 43:55.
173. Luis ngel Mat (ESP/COF) 43:59.
174. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 44:22.
175. Thomas Voeckler (FRA/EUC) 44:27.
176. Alessandro Petacchi (ITA/OPQ) 44:44.
177. Elia Viviani (ITA/CAN) 45:21.
178. Joaquin Rodriguez (ESP/KAT) 46:09.
179. Alessandro Vanotti (ITA/AST) 46:52.
180. Arnaud Dmare (FRA/FDJ) 47:02.
181. Arnaud Gerard (FRA/BSE) 49:08.
182. Adrien Petit (FRA/COF) 49:27.
183. Mickal Cherel (FRA/ALM) 49:50.
184. Bart De Clercq (BEL/LTB) 52:42.
185. Rafal Majka (POL/TIN) 52:43.
186. David De la Cruz (ESP/APP) 53:58.
187. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 57:32.
188. Edward King (USA/CAN) 59:20.
189. Cheng Ji (CHN/GIA) 1h02:40.