Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain Men 2025 Stage 6

September 7, 2025 The final day has arrived, not only for the 2025 Tour of Britain, but for Wales' greatest cyclist, Geraint Thomas. It is only fitting that he wraps up his racing career in his hometown of Cardiff. The final pedal strokes for Thomas won't be easy however because the 112KM route from Newport to Cardiff is punchy and there are guys searching for opportunities to overturn the GC. The course gradually rolls uphill from sea level to 400M at the top of Mynydd Bedwellte, a 3.4KM climb at 4%. There are 58KM to go from there on twisting, undulating roads through Bargoed and Ystrad Mynach before the intermediate sprint in Caerphilly with just 12KM to go. The sprint comes at the bottom of Caerphilly Mountain, a 1.3KM climb at over 9.5%. It's an obvious launchpad for anyone with the legs but we have seen how close the top 5 riders are so it will be tough for anyone in the GC fight to get a gap and hold it for the last 10KM into Cardiff. Rain was coming down at the start but the mood was high as Geraint Thomas was able to ride in between two rows of his peers as they raised their bikes in respect. Once the race got underway, it took a while for a break to establish but when it did, it was comprised of Fred Wright of Bahrain Victorious, Bastien Tronchon of Decathlon AG2R, Julius Johansen of UAE-XRG, and Mats Wenzel of Equipo Kern Pharma. Groupama-FDJ took control early but Picnic-Post NL wanted to make the race hard for Oscar Onley and set a tough pace up Mynydd Bedwellte. Before the top, a herd of cows crossed the road right in front of the bunch who were forced to stop for about 30 seconds before continuing their chase. The break were still in front through the intermediate sprint in Caerphilly which nullified the bonus seconds for anyone in the peloton. Soudal Quickstep led Remco Evenepoel into the bottom of Caerphilly Mountain where he made his first attack near the bottom. It stretched things out but wasn't enough to break up the favorites. Onley tried and race leader Romain Grégoire of Groupama-FDJ was forced to respond. He matched every move and the group went over the top and down the descent with around 20 riders. With 2KM to go, Tronchon, Wright, and Johansen were still in the lead but the peloton had swelled to over 40 riders and there was motivation to chase. Under the last kilometer, Tronchon was stuck on the front with Johansen and Wright sitting in but they waited too long. Wright started his sprint but by the top he got up to speed, the peloton had closed the gap and the sprinters were in full flight. Olav Kooij of Visma-Lease a Bike burst through the lead riders with 50M to go to take his third stage win of the week. Sam Watson of Ineos took second on the stage with Wright doing enough to hold on for third place and probably wishing the cows had been a bit slower to cross on Mynydd Bedwellte. Grégoire did everything right this week and was rewarded with the overall win. He finished the race 2 seconds ahead of Evenepoel in second and 4 seconds ahead of Julian Alaphilippe of Tudor Pro Cycling.