Rui Costa crossed the line first but Andreas Kron protested on stage six of the Tour de Suisse 2021 after Costa moved dramatically in his sprint, the stage eventually being awarded to Kron.
Costa (UAE Team Emirates) was relegated to second place after deviating into the path of Kron (Lotto-Soudal) with the young Dane handed the win following a decision from the race jury. Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) kept the overall lead over Jakob Fuglsang (Astana-Premier Tech) after finishing safely in the main bunch.
The pace was incredibly fast throughout the day with four riders making the early break, but the presence of birthday boy, Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), who sits at under a minute in GC, was just too dangerous.
A huge group followed and they rode all the way to the finish hitting each other with multiple attacks on the final two climbs.
The sixth stage of the 2021 Tour de Suisse started in the town of Fiesch before tackling three mountain passes on the 130.1km course with the finish in Disentis Sedrun. The race was ridden at a leg-breaking pace for the entire day with four riders getting clear early on.
Those four riders were Julian Alaphilippe, Mattia Cattaneo (both Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Marc Soler (Movistar), and Antonio Nibali (Trek-Segafredo) but the pace behind was rapid, with a new break of over 40 riders swallowing that up at the end of the descent of the first climb, the Gotthardpass.
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(Image credit: Tour de Suisse)
On the second of the three climbs, David De La Cruz (UAE Team Emirates) went out solo after the group continuously hit each other with attacks. The Spaniard made it away and went over the top on his own.
The peloton was being controlled well by Ineos Grenadiers as they kept the gap at around three minutes to the leaders.
On the final climb, De La Cruz began to fade and riders started to bridge across to him in the final 7km. Team-mate of his, Ruis Costa (UAE Team Emirates) followed a move by Hermann Pernsteiner (Bahrain Victorious), giving UAE Team Emirates the advantage.
But, De La Cruz went pop moments later. Andreas Kron (Lotto-Soudal), one of the overall best-placed riders in the break at just over six minutes down, made his way across to the leaders with 5km to go.
Pernsteiner tried a kick into the final 2km knowing the two riders he was with were faster than him in a sprint, but he could not get away. The five chasers, Neilson Powless (EF-Nippo), Gonzalo Serrano (Movistar), Antwan Tolhoek (Jumbo-Visma), Hugo Houle (Astana-Premier Tech), and Pierre Latour (Total Direct Energie) continued to launch attacks at each other as they tried to close the 15-second gap to the leaders.
It ended up being a sprint between Costa and Kron with the Portuguese crossing the line first. However, the former world champion deviated dramatically from his line, blocking his rival and was relegated to second place with Kron given the win.
Carapaz keeps his overall lead over Fuglsang with Schachmann in third after Alaphilippe was deducted 20 seconds for an illegal feed on stage five.
Stage seven is an individual time trial up and down the massive Oberalppass starting in Disentis Sedrun and finishing 23.2km later in Andermatt.
Results
Tour de Suisse 2021, stage six: Fiesch to Disentis Sendrun (130.1km)
1. Andreas Kron (Den) Lotto-Soudal, in 3-14-52
2. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at same time
3. Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain Victorious, at 1 second
4. Gonzalo Serrano (Esp) Movistar Team, at 3s
5. Pierre Latour (Fra) Total Direct Energie
6. Hugo Houle (Can) Astana-Premier Tech
7. Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo
8. Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma, all at same time
9. Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 50s
10. Andreas Leknessund (Nor) Team DSM, at 1-00
General classification after stage six
1. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers, in 20-00-31
2. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana-Premier Tech, at 26s
3. Max Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 38s
4. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 53s
5. Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education-Nippo, at 1-11
6. Michael Woods (Can) Israel Start-Up Nation, at 1-32
7. Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma, at 2-19
8. Esteban Chaves (Col) Team BikeExchange, at 2-22
9. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Team Qhubeka-Assos, at 3-10
10. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at 3-37
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