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Le Court sprints to stage six Tour de France Femmes win / Photo: NICOLAS TUCAT - AFP
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Le Court sprints to stage six Tour de France Femmes win
Mauritian rider Kim Le Court overcame an early fall and mechanical problems on Thursday to win a sprint finish for stage six of the Tour de France Femmes as Swiss rival Marlen Reusser retained the leader's yellow jersey.
Le Court, 30, was part of an eight-rider breakaway group but pipped her rivals to finish ahead of France's Cedrine Kerbaol and the Netherlands' Puck Pieterse after the hilly 153km run from Montbrison to Tournon-sur-Rhone in south-eastern France.
Reusser, 34, remains in overall control on the eve of the queen stage which finishes on the summit of Mont Ventoux in the French Alps on Friday.
For the Mauritian champion it was a second stage victory in the Grande Boucle following her win last year in Gueret.
Le Court earned her victory, after crashing early in the stage she suffered mechanical issues that forced her to change bikes just 15 km from the finish line.
Alongside Dutch rider Riejanne Markus, she caught up to the six other breakaway riders shortly before the day's final climb 10km from Tournon-sur-Rhone, before then proving too strong in the sprint.
"It was a truly crazy stage. The team did such a great job positioning me at the front of the race that I couldn't give up the fight," the winner explained.
The overall race favourites finished in a chasing group 28 seconds behind the breakaway.
Reusser maintained a 12-second advantage in the general classification on Dutch rider Demi Vollering and a 1min 17sec gap over Poland's Kasia Niewiadoma.
Friday's stage seven concludes at the summit of the legendary Mont Ventoux via the Bedoin climb over 15.7km at a gradient of 8.8 percent.
C.W.Kuhn--BlnAP
