The Brit was left by the bunch to cook in the sun. Wiggins said after the race: “I knew with about 20km to go that there was no hope that I’d make it to the finish before the peloton. It was a tiring day; it feels like I’ve just done a mountain stage – it was that kind of effort – but this is the Tour de France so any day in the front is a great day. I’m just pleased that it’s over now.
“My team was pretty happy. It’s a French team and the publicity for them is what it’s all about really.
“There was nothing I could do when the peloton was just hovering behind me. I just had to stick it out and wait for the inevitable capture. I wasn’t thinking anything, I was just waiting for them to catch me. This is the Tour so you can’t really sit up. I was pretty tired but I’d probably be in a similar state if I just rode along in the peloton so at least I got something for my time in the lead.” He was caught 7km from the line.

Gerolsteiner, Rabobank, Milram and Quickstep dominated the front of the bunch after Wiggins was caught. After the ’flamme rouge’ Flecha accelerated and delivered the peloton to within 500m from the line. Then two Gerolsteiner riders started the sprint, Hunter (Barloworld) followed, going down the left of the road. Boonen went right and, although baulked by a Gerolsteiner rider, managed to get into the lead. "It was like every sprint in the Tour; it’s very hectic and the last kilometers – with the wind coming from the right – made it very hard. It was difficult to keep the pace high. Everybody was trying to pass… on the left, the right and, if they could, they would have come underneath me. On the last corner, with one kilometer to go, someone’s wheel went into my derailleur. I was in the 53x11 and my bike was making all sorts of noise and I thought, ‘Oh, it’s finished again.’ Then I stopped pedaling and the chain stayed on the bike so I started sprinting again.
"It wasn’t possible to change gears but I won with a broken bike today.
“The green jersey was the only objective for the day and I took every point that there was. Only, in the last intermediate sprint, Erik [Zabel] asked me not to do the sprint because it was only 40km from the finish and it takes up a lot of energy chasing those points on the road.
“It will be a battle to keep the jersey all the way to Paris. Zabel is the toughest, oldest warrior there is and he will not surrender until we get to the finish of the Tour but I think I’m ready for it. The best thing is, I have a big gap on Robbie [McEwen] and now I only have to take care of Erik… and I think I’m a little bit faster," Boonen said. Boonen outsprinted Freire by a bike length, his first Tour de France stage win since 2005 and he’s in charge of the points classification.

Fabian Cancellara finished 67th and will wear the yellow jersey in stage seven. Cancellara said after the race: “I’m in yellow and the sun is shining and I’ve had a good time. Tomorrow is another day and it presents a new objective for me. I want to help my team-mates like Carlos Sastre and Frank Schleck because they’ve done great work for me all week. We’re now exchanging roles: it’ll be Fabian on the front in yellow and those two following… until the climbs when they’ll take charge.
“It was hot today and I expect the next few days will be warmer still. The Tour really begins tomorrow.
“It’s been something special for this week. It’s beautiful but it has taken time to realize what happened. Tomorrow on the climbs, I’ll try to do the best I can but I just want to help my team-mates as long as possible. Today was an easy day. It was windy but after yesterday I think everybody was thinking along the same lines: rest easy before what’s to come.”