Shoutout to Great Britain's Mark Cavendish, who won his third stage of the 2016 Tour De France and his 29th career stage on Thursday. His 29 overall stage wins puts him all by himself in 2nd place in career wins, moving past Bernard Hinault only five behind the legendary Eddy Merckx. Cavendish has cemented himself as the greatest tour sprinter of all time with yet another perfectly executed sprint finish, nosing out rising star Marcel Kittel. It mas a wild sprint finish lacking in organization, as both Kittel's and Cavendish's teams struggled to organize in the super-fast lead-out to the finish. With 2k to go, neither racer was in position, and Cavendish's team was nowhere to be found, and he was forced to jump from wheel to wheel to set himself up. With 1k to go, Kittel's team finally was able to springboard him to the front, and Cavendish was able to jump on Kittel's wheel as he exploded towards the finish. Cavendish then showed the timing and instincts that make him so great - as Kittel powered towards what appeared to be an uncontested win, Cavendish eased out of his slipstream and put the hammer down, flying by Kittel. Kittel was able to recover, but ran out of road and was beaten by half a wheel at the line. Britain Dan McLay took 3rd.
Today's stage 7 takes the tour through the foothills of the Pyrenees and brings them to the top of the first category 1 climb of the tour, the Col d'Aspin. This is a table-setter for more difficult stages to come in the high mountains, and it is unlikely that this first summit will make s huge impact on the GC, but a poor showing could certainly ruin any of the main contenders dreams of reaching the podium in Paris. All eyes will certainly be on Alberto Contador, who has suffered greatly after a series of early crashes and has struggled to latch on to the peleton since.
Greg Van Avermaet enjoyed his first day in yellow, and maintained his 5+ minute advantage as the large peaks loom ahead. His chances are good to retain the jersey yet again today.
YELLOW (General Classification) - Greg Van Avermaet
GREEN (Sprint) - Mark Cavendish
POLKA DOT (Mountains) - Thomas De Gendt
WHITE (Young Rider) - Julian Alaphilippe