Stage 6 in Vietnam, and we're back to traditional point to point races, with a flat stage of 140km from Hanoi to Thanh Hóa. The bunch stayed together until the first intermediate, with baroudeur Trần Tuấn Kiệt collecting the points at the sprint, before a four man breakaway emerged. The danger man in the group was Nguyễn Trúc Xinh (of TPHCM-NewGroup), just 23" back on the GC, and so after the group's lead extended to 2 minutes, Domesco-Đồng Tháp and BikeLife both set themselves to work on the front, as the NewGroup team is both very strong and also the team of 2nd placed Lê Nguyệt Minh. Nguyễn Trúc Xinh did the lion's share of the work for the last 30km in the pursuit of time and leading to an average pace of 41km/h, not bad considering a fairly pedestrian first hour, but he lost the sprint at the end of the day to Phan Tuấn Vũ of the TP Cần Thơ team, one of the smallest in the race and who did not contest last year's edition so did not benefit from the additional audience.
While the group was successful in taking the stage win, the péloton came in just 16 seconds behind and so Nguyễn Trúc Xinh's quest for a stint in yellow was denied, and, exhausted from his exertions to keep the group away, he was outsprinted and ended up 4th of 4 in the group, dropped in the final straight, so denied both the maximum benefit AND the bonus seconds he needed. As a result, his advance was limited and the biggest change at the top of the GC was Trần Tuấn Kiệt moving into 3rd, vaulting past Javier Sardá Pérez, with the bonus seconds accrued. More significantly, though, a big crash in the finishing straight after the top rwo riders on GC collided left Lê Nguyệt Minh and Quân Khu 7's Nguyễn Văn Nhã sprawled in the road (Nguyễn Tấn Hoài was able to make a save but Nguyễn Văn Nhã was caught in the crosshairs, unable to bunnyhop Lê's bike which cut him off at the barriers). The latter has been assessed and it seems all injuries were soft-tissue and superficial, but Lê's remain under wraps, and he was sent to the hospital to check on a potential collarbone injury, so it is not known yet if he will emerge to take the start for tomorrow's 140km stage to Vinh.
While the group was successful in taking the stage win, the péloton came in just 16 seconds behind and so Nguyễn Trúc Xinh's quest for a stint in yellow was denied, and, exhausted from his exertions to keep the group away, he was outsprinted and ended up 4th of 4 in the group, dropped in the final straight, so denied both the maximum benefit AND the bonus seconds he needed. As a result, his advance was limited and the biggest change at the top of the GC was Trần Tuấn Kiệt moving into 3rd, vaulting past Javier Sardá Pérez, with the bonus seconds accrued. More significantly, though, a big crash in the finishing straight after the top rwo riders on GC collided left Lê Nguyệt Minh and Quân Khu 7's Nguyễn Văn Nhã sprawled in the road (Nguyễn Tấn Hoài was able to make a save but Nguyễn Văn Nhã was caught in the crosshairs, unable to bunnyhop Lê's bike which cut him off at the barriers). The latter has been assessed and it seems all injuries were soft-tissue and superficial, but Lê's remain under wraps, and he was sent to the hospital to check on a potential collarbone injury, so it is not known yet if he will emerge to take the start for tomorrow's 140km stage to Vinh.