PARIS, July 11 -- Belgium's Dylan Teuns and Italian Giulio Ciccone, both in their maiden appearance in Tour de France, grabbed the spotlight in Thursday's sixth stage, as Teuns won his first stage title of the tournament and Ciccone grabbed the yellow jersey from local favorite Julian Alaphilippe.
After starting from Mulhouse, 14 riders, including Teuns and Ciccone, formed a breakaway group. Their advantage was already 6 minutes and 40 seconds at the intermediate sprint point at the 29km.
A maximum time gap of 8 minutes and 30 seconds was reached at the bottom of the Ballon d'Alsace at the 94km, before it was gradually reduced. With 10km to go, the leading quartet had a four-minute lead over the peloton.
Teuns made the most of his fitness in the final phase at La Planche des Belles Filles to outshine Ciccone for his maiden stage title in Tour de France.
"I didn't expect to win here although I knew there was a chance for the breakaway to succeed today. I took my opportunity. I knew Ciccone was the main guy. I'm so happy I finished it off," said Teuns.
Despite finishing runner-up, Ciccone took over the leader with a six-second advantage over Alaphilippe. The last Italian in the yellow jersey was Fabio Aru two years ago.
"The yellow jersey was my childhood dream. Today I made it come true. It's a beautiful achievement. It's hard to believe," Ciccone pointed out.
Defending champion Geraint Thomas finished fourth in the stage, climbing to fifth in overall standings.
Stage 7 on Friday will kick off from Belfort, winding its way through 230km to Chalon-sur-Saone.