LE HAVRE, France (AP) β The latest from the sixth stage of the Tour de France (all times local):
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3:23 p.m.
Eritrean rider Daniel Teklehaimanot has scored his first points in the battle for the King of the Mountains crown.
Teklehaimanot won the sprint at the top of the Cote de Pourville-sur-Mer after securing his first point at the Cote de Dieppe to move level with Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez, who is currently wearing the best climber’s polka-dot jersey.
Teklehaimanot, who won the mountain classification at the Criterium du Dauphine, has already made history at the Tour as the first rider from Eritrea to compete in the three-week race when he launched the opening time trial off in the streets of Utrecht last weekend.
The MTN-Qhubeka rider is part of a three-man breakaway that escaped after 5 kilometers Thursday en route to Le Havre, alongside Perrig Quemeneur and Kenneth Van Bilsen (Cofidis). They currently hold a lead of 4 minutes and 39 seconds over the main pack.
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1:00 p.m.
German rider Tony Martin defends the yellow jersey as riders set off on the sixth stage of the Tour de France on Thursday.
Martin safely protected the leader’s jersey on a rainy fifth stage that featured another big crash, and which saw Martin’s countryman Andre Greipel sealing a second stage win in a sprint finish.
Stage 6 is a 191.5-kilometer route starting from Abbeville and finishing in Le Havre, France’s biggest commercial port.
It once again favors sprinters like Greipel, who will be eyeing a ninth career Tour stage win.
Martin leads British rider Chris Froome by 12 seconds and Tejay Van Garderen by 25.
