Belgian cyclist Tom Boonen ended a two-year dry spell at the Tour de France on Friday, winning Stage 6 in a mass sprint in Bourg-en-Bresse as Fabian Cancellara completed the first week still in yellow.
Boonen hadn't won a stage since early in the 2005 Tour, when he won two (he has 5 career). It looked like the sprinter might win Stage 2 in Ghent, Belgium, on Monday, but he came in second to teammate Gert Steegmans.
“At last another victory. You need so much luck,” Boonen told reporters after the victory.
Meanwhile the riding wounded — Alexander Vinokourov, Andreas Kloden (both Astana) and Benjamin Noval (Discovery Channel) — finished the stage in spite of their various injuries. Saturday the peloton enters the Alps. (See: “Vino to start Saturday; Kloden questionable“)
The last bicycle rider across the finish line on Friday was Bradley Wiggins, ironic since he spent more than 115 miles out in front of the peloton.
The Cofidis cyclist attacked about a mile after leaving Semur en Auxois. Even though he was sitting in 105th place overall at 5:40 behind, he gained enough time on the road to be the “virtual” yellow jersey. At one point, Wiggins rode 18 minutes ahead of the peloton.
The peloton pulled within 1:30 minutes of Wiggins about 15 miles of the finish. The bunch finally picked up the pace to prepare for the final sprint at about the 11-mile mark, meaning the margin to Wiggins began falling quickly. He was swept up at the 117-mile mark.
Erik Zabel (Milram) started the day in the green jersey, but was beaten by Boonen and his teammates at the day's one intermediate sprint. With that, and the stage win, Boonen won back green jersey he had lost the day before.
Zabel used to dominate the points competition, winning it from 1996 to 2001.
Meanwhile, Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) retained the polka dot King of the Mountain jersey and Vladimir Gusev (Discovery) kept the best young rider's jersey.
The Top 10 are:
1. Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC
2. Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana — 33 seconds
3. Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Liquigas — 35 seconds
4. David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval — 41 seconds
5. Oscar Freire (Sp) Rabobank — 43 seconds
6. George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel — 43 seconds
7. Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel — 45 seconds
8. Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne — 46 seconds
9. Erik Zabel (Ger) Milram — 48 seconds
10. Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Euskaltel — 49 seconds
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