Riccò wins atop Super-Besse
Kirchen takes yellow jersey as race leader Schumacher crashes near finish
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Saunier Duval’s Riccardo Riccò put his money where his mouth was on the summit finish of stage 6, sprinting uphill for the win ahead of overall race favorites Alejandro Valverde and Cadel Evans.
Team Columbia’s Kim Kirchen finished just behind to take the yellow jersey, as race leader Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) crashed within the final kilometer and lost 30 seconds. (The final 3km mercy rule, which gives crashed riders the same time as the group they came out of, does not apply on summit finishes.)
Ironically, it was Kirchen’s wheel with which Schumacher collided.
“It’s like a bad movie for me,” Schumacher said. “It’s not fair to give the jersey away like that. I don’t know why Kirchen moved into me. I felt really good. After that accident, I had no chance anymore.”
Up front, Riccò was thrilled with the outcome, saying that he was especially thrilled to beat the man he thinks will win this year’s Tour.
“It was impressive to win in front of Valverde who’s in good shape,” Riccò said, crediting his Saunier Duval team. “The team did a great job today. I had good legs today.”
Valverde telegraphed his confidence on the stage early on, putting his Caisse d’Epargne team on the front about 40km from the finish.
After the day’s main breakaway was reeled in, a number of riders tried their luck to escape up the final climb, including Garmin-Chipotle’s Christian Vande Velde.
Valverde’s team brought them all to heel, however, and whittled the front group down to about 30 riders.
With just 2km to go, it was 2006 Tour de France winner Oscar Pereiro driving the pace for Valverde, with Riccò tucked gamely on the Spanish champion’s wheel. Evans sat behind, isolated without teammates.
At the red kite, Pereiro swung off, and it was game on.
At the back of the front group, yellow jersey Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) touched a wheel and went down, sending a teammate to the ground with him.
Up ahead, Riccò jumped at about 250 meters. Valverde and Evans responded, but could not get back onto terms, finishing about a second behind.
“It’s a very important victory. I came to the Tour to win a stage and now I’ve already reached my objective,” Riccò said.
“I benefited from the work Caisse d’Epargne did on the final climbs,” Ricco said. “Now that I’ve reached my first objective, I’ll work for Piepoli in the mountains. He worked hard for me today, and worked hard for me at the Giro d’Italia. He’s a good teammate and I’ll try to return the favor.”
Early attack, long break
Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) attacked at 6km, with fellow Frenchmen Freddy Bichot (Agritubel) and Benoit Vaugrenard (FDJ) joining him at 11km. Garmin-Chiptole’s American Danny Pate tried unsuccessfully to bridge.
The group built up a maximum lead of just more than five minutes.
To protect Schumacher’s lead, Gerolsteiner drove the pack, with some help from the Silence-Lotto team of Cadel Evans.
A feedzone tumble took down a few riders, including Florent Brard and David Lopez Garcia, but they were all back up and riding.
Evans suffered a flat, and five teammates immediately were back with him. As Evans was pulled back into the peloton by his teammates, the breakaway trio’s lead was down to 3:20.
Heading up the Col de la Croix-Morand, Chavanel drove the pace. He had scooped up a number of KOM points earlier in the day, and sat just two points behind Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) for the lead in the competition. At 37km from the finish, the Cat. 2 Col de la Croix-Morand held the points Chavanel needed to take the jersey.
At 5km to go to the summit, Bichot and Chavanel battled on as FDJ’s Vaugrenard faded off.
Behind, Caisse d’Epargne drove the pack uphill at a pace steady enough to be riding six abreast, but quick enough to spit out sprinters like stage 5 winner Mark Cavendish (Columbia).
The peloton had the two within sight as they neared the crowd-packed summit.
In the polka-dot jersey, Voeckler jumped to the delight of the fans, taking third-place points and a gap over the top. Caisse d’Epargne was having none of it, however. Alejandro Valverde’s teammates bombed down the winding descent at the front of the single-file line.
Chavanel was soon reeled back in, his new jersey secured.
But Bichot fought on, still clear with 17km to go.
With bandages on his right arm and leg, Valverde’s actions spoke loudly. By putting his team on the front, the rest of the pack got the message: Balaverde thinks he can win the stage today.
Teammate Oscar Pereiro, winner of the 2006 Tour de France, said the team was eager to do battle.
“Last night Valvderde didn’t feel very good, and this morning we weren’t sure,” Pereiro said. “But after 100km he told us he was good, and that he thought he could win today. We knew the jersey was out of reach, but it was important for Alejandro to try for the stage win.
After Bichot was finally caught, and Cofidis’ Amaël Moinard and Bouygues Telecom’s Laurent Lefèvre gave it a go before the town of Besse.
At 8km to go, Crédit Agricole’s Christophe Le Mevel and AG2R’s Vladimir Efimkin jumped clear, quickly latching onto Moinard and Lefèvre.
After some countering, Efimkin went off alone. Back in the pack, no one was helping Caisse d’Epargne.
Cofidis’ David Moncoutie tried to bridge up.
At just outside of 5km to go, Moncoutie joined Efimkin with the pack 12 seconds behind. Then Garmin’s Vande Velde, who sat in sixth overall at the start of the day, jumped clear, too, and brought with him Saunier Duval’s Leonardo Piepoli.
Mouncontie got popped. Then Efimkin.
Columbia put a single rider into the chase with Caisse d’Epargne, shattering the main group down to only about 30 riders.
“That was the plan going into the stage,” Vande Velde said. “I had to try, and with Piepoli, that was the right move. Maybe it was a little early, we got swarmed on the bottom of the climb.”
On the steepest part, Vande Velde and Piepoli were caught. Still Caisse d’Epargne drove on. Riccò sat right behind Valverde near the front, with Evans in tow. The favorites watched each other closely.
Indeed, when Pereiro pulled off at 1km to go, the leaders began to swerve across the road, no one wanting to take the lead and risk being attacked from behind.
Losing the jersey
It was this weaving cat-and-mouse that ended Schumacher’s run in yellow. As the front group swung right, Kirchen did so too, following the wheel in front of him. Unfortunately, Schumacher has his wheel slightly overlapping Kirchen’s, and he ran out of room to avoid the Columbia rider as he moved toward to barrier.
The yellow jersey went down, and the race went up the road.
Schumacher was pained at the thought of losing the lead because of a seemingly minor error in the final few meters of the stage.
“Kirchen made a move and I had to hit the brakes. I was boxed in and there was nowhere I could go. I’m really disappointed to lose the jersey like this, he said, seemingly forgetting that two years earlier – in the Eneco Benelux Tour - he had won “the jersey like this.”
For his part, Kirchen said he had no idea that he had caused the crash.
“I didn’t even see Schumacher in the last kilometers,” the new yellow jersey holder said. “It comes a surprise to me to hear this; I don’t know anything about it.”
VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood contributed to this report.
Results, Stage 6
1. Riccardo Ricco (ITA), Saunier Duval 4h57min 52sec
2. Alejandro Valverde (ESP), Caisse d'Epargne at 0:01
3. Cadel Evans (AUS), Silence-Lotto at 0:01
4. Frank Schleck (LUX), CSC at 0:04
5. Kim Kirchen (LUX), Team Columbia 0:04
6. Roman Kreuziger (CZE), Liquigas at 0:07
7. Moises Duenas (ESP), Barloworld 0:07
8. Carlos Sastre (ESP), CSC 0:07
9. Denis Menchov (RUS), Rabobank 0:07
10. Leonardo Piepoli (ITA), Saunier Duval 0:07
Overall, after Stage 6
1. Kim Kirchen (LUX), Team Columbia 24h30min 41sec
2. Cadel Evans (AUS), Silence-Lotto at 0:06.
3. Stefan Schumacher (GER), Gerolsteiner at 0:16.
4. Christian Vande Velde (USA), Garmin-Chipotle at 0:44.
5. David Millar (GBR), Garmin-Chipotle at 0:47.
6. Thomas Lovkvist (SWE), Team Columbia at 0:54.
7. Denis Menchov (RUS), Rabobank at 1:03.
8. Alejandro Valverde (ESP), Caisse d'Epargne at 1:12.
9. Stijn Devolder (BEL), Quick Step at 1:21.
10. Oscar Pereiro (ESP), Caisse d'Epargne 1:21.
