TdF Stage 6: Aigurande - Super Besse (195.5km)

I made a little mistake yesterday saying that the stage finished on a hill but that it was a category four one. I got a little mixed up there, the stage in fact finished at the top of a category 2 climb, one that seperated the men from the boys for the first time in this Tour de France and seen the Yellow Jersey change hands in unfortunate circumstances.

Stefan Schumacher was the yellow jersey holder but a crash inside the final kilometre meant he lost just enough time to Kim Kirchen to lose his jersey. The ironic thing of it all was that it was Kirchen’s wheel that he touched that made him crash. There was no malice in it however but being that it was a hill-top finish, crashing within the final three kilometres does not give you the same time as the rest in your group like it would on a flat stage.

The stage had three guys attacking from early on but when the hills got steap they were soon swept up and sent out the back along with quite a few others and as the pace really picked up on the final kick to the line. Quite a few riders went out the back losing anything from a minute or two, right down to over seventeen by the big bunch of sprinters like yesterday’s winner, Mark Cavendish.

We aren’t quite into the big mountains yet but this was a little taster as to what we are going to see. The stage was won by Riccardo Ricco of Italy when he out sprinted Valverde and Evans for the line. None of the major tour favourites lost time today, but it shook up the GC enough to show us who is going to be fighting it out in the coming weeks.

Britains David Millar rode an impressive final climb, hanging in there to make sure he only lost 51-seconds and keep him near the top of the overall.

Tomorrow is another rolling day with another few category two climbs but none right at the finish like today.

Category: Pro Road Racing » Kim Kirchen, Riccardo Ricco, Tour de France |

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