Jumbo Visma, who offered conditions on Tuesday's sixth stage of the Tour de France at Orsières-Mellet, gave up the prime spot in front of the yellow jersey group to Ineos Grenadier.

The Tour was expected to cause upheaval among the rivals in the overall classification as the riders crossed the Cevennes region, which is 13 kilometers from the finish after the tough Category 1 climb of the Pass de la Luzette.

As a Eurosport pundit, Alberto Contador spoke glowingly of the "opportunities" that the severe gradient of the Lusset presented to attackers, but none of the leading riders were convinced of the merits of going on the offensive.

Instead, the Ineos group, led by defending champion Egan Bernal, set a spirited but irresistible pace on the climb, with Roglic, Dumoulin, and others sitting comfortably behind them and the yellow jersey group led by stage winner Alexey Lutsenko (Astana ProTeam) was 2:53 behind.

Lutsenko was part of an eight-man breakaway earlier in the day, and the breakaway group earned time bonuses at the finish and the Col de la Russette. Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) took the maillot jaune, three seconds ahead of Roglic, and it appears the GC battle will be left until the Pyrenees.

"Ineos rode a really hard tempo. It was OK for us and OK for the others," Roglic told Sporza (open in new tab). "It wasn't completely flat and there was a hill at the end. The breakaway was very strong. It was another good day." He said.

In the last 20km of stage 5, Julien Alaphilippe (Dečuninck-Quick Step) was awarded 20 seconds for an illegal feed, which unexpectedly put him in the race lead. His Mitchelton-Scott team appeared to have allowed an early breakaway, but Roglic downplayed that Jumbo Visma's gains would have been better had Detunink-Quickstep held the yellow and maintained control at the front of the peloton.

"We don't have a lot of leverage in these things. So far, we've done really well."

Dumoulin, who admitted that he suffered on Tuesday at Orsieres-Mellet, enjoyed a more comfortable ride on the move to Mont Aigual. Jumbo-Visma's Wout Van Aert and Sepp Kuss chipped away at the yellow jersey group, but this time the Dutch team abandoned the pacemaker role it employed at the Criterium du Dauphiné.

"I don't have to prove myself every day," Dumoulin told NOS after finishing 15th in the stage. 'That's fine. We have to show ourselves on the right days. I let the other teams do their work today. I myself am running fine."

"The race went as we had expected beforehand. The top of the Col de la Russette was too far from the line to test anything. This was the ideal scenario for us."

The afternoon on the way to Mont Aiguard was less grueling for Van Aat, who had shown tremendous pacemaking ability on the Orsieres Méllette and recovered well to win the group sprint in Prevas 24 hours later. Jumbo Visma left five riders in the yellow jersey group at the top of the climb: Roglic, Dumoulin, Cous, George Bennett, and Robert Gesink.

"From a GC point of view, nothing happened. The plan was to ride with Primosch and Tom at the front all day and bring them to the finish without any problems. It worked," Van Aert said.

"I decided to save some energy for today. The Tour is still long and there are many tough days ahead. It was a fast stage and we couldn't rest. The team is in a good position and the leaders are in good shape."

Jumbo Visma rarely led except for a brief stint on stage 6, a category 3 cap de cost, but their impact on the race was clear. No one dared to attack. Everyone is afraid of Jumbo Visma's train running behind the attackers"