The final stage is upon us and it's 112km and as flat as it gets. Anything but a sprint would be disappointing for those teams focused on it here. Although a breakaway could have a chance.
The favourites are the sprinters. Can Kuboki win another stage for the Japanese or will his team leader step up to the plate?
60km left in the stage so we are almost halfway through and we have a 5 man breakaway of De Gendt, Arif Prayogo, Nych, Vogt and Watson that is 34 seconds ahead of Pellaud who is struggling to bridge the gap. There is a further 1'34 behind Pellaud back to the Peloton.
42km for the Peloton and it's now just the 5 men in front. The gap is 1'33.
25km and the gap is under a minute. This should be decided with a sprint!
Under the 10km banner and the break just about caught. Sprinters sorting themselves out at the front of the Peloton.
The breakaway is finally caught with 6km left. It's now on the trains to get themselves organised. The crowds have flocked to the streets to get a glimpse of their favourite riders.
3km to go. On the left it's Boudat followed by Zhao. They only have Morrin in front of them though. On the right, the HelloFresh train is looking very strong as Kump has Redecker and Walls for support. The Carrefour train in the middle is a bit further back but still has Dainese and Kuboki in front of Van Stayen.
2km now and the 3 trains are all alongside one another! This is shaping up to be a tasty finale.
1.5km and Kuboki takes the lead with Van Stayen in his wheel. Redecker and Kump next to Van Stayen. Boudat and Zhao are swinging across to find a wheel.
900m now and the HelloFresh duo have come up next to the Carrefour duo. There are plenty of riders in behind them looking to pounce as well.
500m and it's looking very close between Kump and Van Stayen. Boudat, Rowe and Weber are here too!
It's Weber pulling through into the lead with only 300m to go! This would be quite an upset.
But with 200m to go Zhao has put on the after burners and he is coming through very quickly now!
And it's a comfortable victory in the end for Zhao who wins by more than a bike length!
Weber is 2nd ahead of a very fast finishing Luchshenko.
The favourites don't benefit from their trains as Van Stayen and Kump are 4th and 5th. Prasad is 6th.
And he's done it! Quintana hasn't had the best season but it's a deserved GC win for the Colombian who was the top favourite coming into this one. Padun is rewarded for his Stage 5 efforts with 2nd. Carthy's consistency earns him 3rd. Shikai is 4th after losing time yesterday while Alarcon made up the lost Prologue time to take 5th.
Zhao is further rewarded for his stage win today by winning the Points classification ahead of Quintana.
Quintana and Juul-Jensen share the KOM win.
Padun is the best U25 rider with Bernal in 2nd. No one else within 5 minutes of these 2.
And finally, Jura add to their individual success with a win in the Teams classification as well.
Tour of Japan - Stage 6 Report 
