Stage 6 - Tour de France 2020

 Stage 6 on Thursday September 3rd from Le Teil to Mont Aigoual Observatory.  191 km 3149 total climb; 1590m max elevation; 14$ max grade with 3 climbs and 1 sprint.  The last 26 miles are uphill in stair step climb.  The countryside was really beautiful and I tried to capture some of the scenery in the photos above. 172 riders left in Tour. 
There was some discussion of how penalties were assessed in past tours with fines more often than a combination of fines and time penalties.  They didn't recall any cyclist wearing the yellow jersey ever had been penalized with time and usually it isn't as much.  Alaphilippe seemed to take it in stride and plans on getting the jersey back. 
From the start Nicholas Roche attacked followed by 7 others to form a perfect breakaway which was a surprise to the teams in the Peloton. Maybe since no one was a threat to any of leaders in the jerseys. They never caught them.  Nicholas has been a favorite of mine for years and  in 2015 I painted him along with Peter Sagan, Alberto Contador and Matthew Ladagnous because they had shown such good qualities to work for the team and they were outstanding cyclists in their own right. See my painting of Nicholas Roche above when he rode for Sky.
Breakaway riders cooperated the entire length of the race with one another:  USA cyclist Neilson Powless turned 24 today and was feeling amazing to be in such strong experienced company in the breakaway. He admitted in the after interview he probably shouldn't have attacked the 2nd time to save his energy for the finish but he came in 4th -- not bad for his first tour.  Alexey Lutsenko of Astana rode away from Herrada, Van Avermat, Powless and Roche to win the stage.  Astana had not won a stage in a decade. Herrada was 2nd, Van Avermat 3rd.    Adam Yates retained the yellow jersey and Roglic is 3 seconds behind him.

Please leave comments about specific kind of photos you might like to see in future stages. e.g., more cyclists or more scenery???