For the first time in this year's Tour de France, Belkin went on the attack when they had Tom Leezer in the early break of stage 6. With a windy course and a tricky finale, the Dutch team expected the break to stay away but instead Sep Vanmarcke sprinted to 9th in the bunch sprint.

Sep Vanmarcke led Belkin Pro Cycling TEAM home in Tour de France stage six today in Reims. The Belgian sprinted to a praiseworthy ninth place behind winner André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol). 

“It was a demanding day,” said Vanmarcke. “Mainly due to the stress that came with the crosswinds, but also because of the high pace. I still felt yesterday’s efforts, although it wasn’t too bad as I wasn’t involved in yesterday’s final. I didn’t feel as tired as after Paris-Roubaix.” 

Tom Leezer was part of a four-man break in the 152-kilometre stage. With 18 kilometres to go, the Dutchman was reeled in by the peloton. 

“It was a good day in the lead,” said Leezer. “Unfortunately, it didn’t bring me a result, but it was my first time in a break in the Tour and that was cool. It was too bad that it was just the four of us. We expected that there would be more teams with the same idea and that the group would have been bigger. 

“Many sprinters crashed yesterday and today, there was a lot of wind. That means you have a good chance to win when you’re in the break. That was our idea, but it wasn’t our intention to attack with just four men.” 
 

Merijn Zeeman told his riders this morning that getting in the break was a must.

“We thought a group really stood a chance today,” said the sports director. “We knew the parcours and the areas where the wind could be of a factor and that the final was dangerous due to the numerous roundabouts. Giant-Shimano didn’t get any help in the chase and that gave us extra confidence. Because of the echelons, the pace increased in the final and that was the end of the break.” 

Bauke Mollema and Laurens ten Dam paid attention in the last couple of kilometres and finished safely in the peloton. Mollema sits 17th overall, 2’27” behind leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana). Ten Dam holds 29th at 4’13”. 

“The wind wasn’t strong enough today otherwise there would have been some real echelons,” said Mollema. “In the end, the peloton split, but I got through the day just fine thanks to my team-mates. I recovered pretty well from yesterday and I’m happy with that. 

“As a team, we stayed out of trouble quite well this first week. We were involved in some crashes, but it wasn’t too serious, which is a good sign.” 

“We haven’t had a quiet day since the first stage, but I’m doing pretty well so far,” said Ten Dam. “I hope it stays that way until the Vosges. Today, we had to be careful because of the echelons. At one point, I was a little bit behind, but luckily I had the legs to make my way to the front myself.”