Mark Cavendish had not claimed a Tour stage win for five years before this year's raceMark Cavendish won his 32nd Tour de France stage victory to move within two stages of the all-time record held by Belgian legend Eddy Merckx.
It is the second stage win of this year's Tour for Cavendish, who feared he would never return to the race after a long illness threatened his career.
He was only called into into the Deceuninck-QuickStep team at the last minute for the injured Sam Bennett.
But on stage six he again out-sprinted the peloton to win in style.
In the long final straight to the line in Chateauroux he was well-positioned by his lead-out train before hopping onto the wheel of the fast-finishing Alpecin-Fenix duo of Tim Merlier and Jasper Philpsen.
He then accelerated to pull clear of Philipsen and Nacer Bouhanni.
It is the third time he has won in Chateauroux, including his first ever Tour win in 2008 and again in 2011.
Stage six results
Mark Cavendish (GB/Deceuninck-Quick-Step) 3hrs 17mins 36secs Jasper Philipsen (Bel/Alpecin-Fenix) Same timeNacer Bouhanni (Fra/Arkea Samsic) Arnaud Demare (Fra/ Groupama - FDJ)Peter Sagan (Svk/Bora-Hansgrohe)Cees Bol (Ned/DSM)Tim Merlier (Bel/Alpecin-Fenix) Wout Van Aert (Bel/Jumbo-Visma)Michael Matthews (Aus/BikeExchange)Mads Pedersen (Den/Trek-SegafredoGeneral classification after stage six
Mathieu van der Poel (Ned/Alpecin-Fenix) 20hrs 09mins 17secs Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) +8secsWout van Aert (Bel/Jumbo-Visma) +30secsJulian Alaphilippe (Fra/Deceuninck-QuickStep) +48secsAlexey Lutsenko (Kaz/Astana) +1min 21secsPierre Latour (Fra/Total-Energies) +1mins 28secsRigoberto Uran (Col/EF Education Nippo) +1min 29secsJonas Vingegaard (Den/Jumbo-Visma) +1min 43secsRichard Carapaz (Ecu/Ineos Grenadiers) +1min 44secsPrimoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) +1min 48secsSelected other
12. Geraint Thomas (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +1min 54secs
