Jaan Kirsipuu of Estonia won a sprint finish at the end of the sixth stage of the Tour de France today, with Stuart O'Grady doing enough to keep the yellow jersey of race leader.
Lance Armstrong, the American chasing his third successive Tour victory, finished comfortably within the main bunch as he stayed focused on next week's decisive mountain stages.
Armstrong's U.S. Postal team lost ground in the team time trial on Thursday but there no surprises in the sixth stage, run over 211.5 kilometres from Commercy to Strasbourg.
Axel Merckx, Rik Verbrugghe, Michele Bartoli, Laurent Brochard and Frederic Bessy were in a lead group around three minutes ahead for more than 150 kms, making it over the Col du Denon with few problems, but were caught before the finish.
The race continues on Saturday with a 162.5 km stage from Strasbourg to Colmar.
