Andre Greipel of Germany won the sixth stage of Tour de France 2014, while Vincenzo Nibali of Italy retains the yellow jersey on Thursday.

The Lotto Belisol rider ruled stage 6 in sprint as he burst out of the group in the final 300 meters of the 194-kilometer race from Arras to Reims, defeating Alexander Kristoff of Norway and Samuel Dumoulin of France, who finished second and third, respectively.

Greipel's victory, which was his sixth career Tour de France stage victory, was the first stage win for Lotto Belisol. It was also the fourth stage win for a German rider after Marcel Kittel won three of the first five stages of the Tour.

"I think there was a lot of pressure on us and also on my shoulders," Greipel said via The Guardian. "Everybody did the job they had to do to get me in the position for the sprint and I had enough power to win. I am very happy that we finally have a stage win."

Below is the list of top 10 finishers of the fifth stage of Tour de France 2014:

  1. Andre Greipel (Ger/Lotto-Belisol) 4hrs 11 mins, 39 secs
  2. Alexander Kristoff (Nor/Katusha)
  3. Samuel Dumoulin (Fran/AG2R)
  4. Mark Renshaw (Aus/Omega Pharma - Quick-Step)
  5. Peter Sagan (Svk/Cannondale)
  6. Romain Feillu (Fra/Bretagne-Seche)
  7. Tom Veelers (Ned/Giant-Shimano)
  8. Bryan Coquard (Fra/Europcar)
  9. Sep Vanmarcke (Bel/Belkin)
  10. Sylvain Chavanel (Fra/IAM Cycling)

Meanwhile, Nibali retains the yellow jersey as the general classification remains unchanged after Thursday's sixth stage.

The Astana rider still holds a two-second lead over his teammate Jakob Fuglsang, while third-running Cannondale rider Peter Sagan is still 44-seconds behind from Nibali.

Alberto Contador, who is considered as the favorite to win this year's race after defending champion Chris Froome crashed out of the Tour, remains two-minutes, 37-seconds behind Nibali.

Below is the general classification after stage six:

  1. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita/Astana) 24hrs 38mins 25secs
  2. Jakob Fuglsang (Den/Astana) +2secs
  3. Peter Sagan (Svk/Cannondale) +44secs
  4. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol/Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) +50secs
  5. Fabian Cancellara (Swi/Trek) +1min 17secs
  6. Jurgen Van den Broeck (Bel/Lotto-Belisol) +1min 45secs
  7. Tony Gallopin (Fra/Lotto-Belisol) Same time
  8. Richie Porte (Aus/Team Sky) +1min 54secs
  9. Andrew Talansky (US/Garmin-Sharp) +2mins 05secs
  10. Alejandro Valverde (Spa/Movistar) +2mins 11secs

Watch the highlights of Greipel's stage six victory on this link from the official Tour de France 2014 website.

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