Chavanel takes stage six win

Sylvain Chavanel won a packed sprint to the line to take stage six of Paris-Nice on Saturday afternoon.

The Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider was at the head of a 60-strong group which came home together in Nice at the end of a mountainous 220-kilometres route.

World champion Philippe Gilbert (BMC) finished second on the penultimate stage with Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) third.

Frenchman Chavanel took advantage of Gilbert slightly mis-timing his attack, the Belgian hitting the front too soon and allowing Chavanel to race past decisively.

"I am super happy," Chavanel said on cyclingnews.com.

"It's the second time I've won here in Nice after my victory in 2008. It's always a great emotion to raise the arms here.

"Today I decided to do the sprint because I was looking for some points for the green jersey."

Richie Porte (Team Sky) finished in the lead group to retain the race leader's yellow jersey with just tomorrow's 9.6km time trial remaining.

Porte holds a 32-second advantage over Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp), with Chavanel 42 seconds behind. The Frenchman leads the points standings with 76 from Talansky, who has 61.

"Tomorrow will be difficult for me, but I will try to do my best to stay in the top 10," he added.