The flat run-in of Stage 6 from Arpajon-sur-Cère > Montauban meant today was always likely to come down to a bunch gallop, and the fastmen obliged with another exciting sprint.
Not since the year 2000 have all 198 riders made it to the start line of the 6th stage of Le Tour intact. What's more remarkable is every one of them made it safely along the 190.5KM route and should make the start of Stage 7 tomorrow.
The sprinters teams allowed a couple of escapees to get up the road, but they never had a serious lead such as the quarter of an hour or more that was afforded to yesterday's early attackers.
As the sprinters teams closed down the breakaway and took control of the race things hotted-up considerably. Our man McLay was absolutely in the thick of the action and was unfortunate to finish 'only' third - his best ever finish and his fourth top ten in only six Tour de France stages, beaten only by stage winner and fellow Brit - legendary sprinter Mark Cavendish, and Germany's powerhouse shampoo model Marcel Kittel.
© A.S.O. / G. Demouveaux
That's a pretty awesome performance by the man from the East Midlands of England - who finished comfortably ahead of the likes of Alexander Kristoff (Katusha), Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) and André Greipel (Lotto Soudal).
Speaking after the stage the delighted Brit wasn't ready to dwell on his great performance saying "there's still room for improvement". His thoughts had already shifted to surviving tomorrow's stage and the 1,490M of the Col d'Aspin that come at KM 155.5 of the 162.5KM stage.
Cheers Dan!
Follow Dan on Twitter: @McLAYDan and on Instagram: @McLAYDan
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