2012 Tour de France Stage 6, 07/06/12

July 6, Stage 6: Épernay - Metz 207.5km

Sagan wins Tour de France stage 6 in Metz

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour-de-france/stage-6/results)

Sagan… The name has become a byword for ‘sensational’ at this year’s Tour de France as the 22-year-old Slovak took yet another stage win to make it a triple treat in 2012. The Liquigas-Cannondale rider simply out-powered André Greipel and Matthew Goss to the line in Metz, despite the best efforts of the Lotto-Belisol and Orica-GreenEdge teams respectively.

"Another win and I called this one ‘The Hulk'," said Peter Sagan, regarding his victory salute in Metz. "I'm very happy when I can win a stage like today. Yesterday I was unlucky with the crash but also content that nothing was broken and that I didn't have any injuries.

"This is already more than I ever expected. It's surprised me, too. I wanted to do well but I need to say that this is only the start of the Tour de France and tomorrow is when the race really begins because it's the climbs and I think that after two weeks, by the start of the third week, it's going to be really hard.

"I want the green jersey and I think I can hold on to it all the way to Paris."

With a properly flat parcours and on the eve of a foray into the mountains most would ensure a stage without high drama at this year’s Tour but you’d be wrong as the day was again characterized by crashes and calamity. Runner-up Greipel was involved in two crashes, but still figured in the finale.

"I crashed at 35km and then again at the mountain ranking," Greipel told Radsport-News.com. "I didn't want to sprint, but my teammates talked me into it. It was unbelievably painful." The German sprinter is believed to have dislocated his left shoulder.

For some of the Tour’s big general classification contenders, the day was defined by a massive crash just 25km from home that saw the likes of Garmin-Sharp’s Ryder Hesjedal (who lost more than 13 minutes), Frank Schleck (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek) and Rabobank’s Robert Gesink forego a significant swathe of time; tomorrow’s hills will prove that much harder after the accident as four riders were forced to abandon due to the injuries they suffered.

Consequently, the overall standings took on a different complexion by day’s end, with Hesjedal gone from the top 10 to leave Garmin-Sharp’s hopes in shreds, along with Edvald Boasson Hagen, who found himself caught in the day’s big crash. Radioshack-Nissan’s Fabian Cancellara remains in yellow – he’ll celebrate a week in the jersey tomorrow – whilst his teammate Maxime Monfort slips into the first ten. He’ll be one to watch in the next week.

A tranquil day… Who are we kidding?

With the mountains beckoning and yesterday’s finish line palpitations fresh in their minds, the men working for the Tour’s sprinters kept the day’s break on a short leash. Experienced stager David Zabriskie (Garmin-Sharp) attacked early in the day and was joined by Davide Malacarne (Europcar), Romain Zingle (Cofidis) and Karsten Kroon (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) to form the day’s escaping quartet after about 10km.

The break was allowed a maximum advantage nudging seven minutes before it was time to start pegging back the plucky escapees. The flat parcours lent itself to doing so with ease and the sprinters’ teams could pick and choose how much and when the time would be erased from the break.

There was a crash about 50km into the stage as double stage winner Greipel, his Lotto-Belisol teammate Francis de Greefe, Movistar duo José Ivan Gutierrez and Alejandro Valverde and Gesink and Vacansoleil-DCM pair Lieuwe Westra and Kris Boeckmans all touched down.

With much toil from several of his Lotto-Belisol teammates, Greipel could be seen taking a tow back to the peloton – the opportunity for further stage win glory driving the German and his lieutenants on as the pace increased at the front of the bunch.

Another day of toil for the medical staff

This year’s crash-fest continued 25km from the finish, the road resembling a bike swap meet as wheels, bikes, riders and mechanics cluttered the road whilst Orica-GreenEdge continued at tempo on the front in pursuit of a stage win for Goss. Bad news for Hesjedal, the Giro d’Italia champion caught in the fracas, as was Schleck, Lampre’s Michele Scarponi and AG2R-La Mondiale rider Jean-Christophe Peraud, who had already been held up earlier in the day.

With his BMC Racing teammates around him, fellow general classification contender Cadel Evans remained protected at the head of proceedings, however, the chase of the break taking on an Australian flavour with the reigning champion and his compatriots filling the front seats of the pursuit car.

The story would be different for Garmin-Sharp, however, with the likes of Hesjedal, Christian Vande Velde and Daniel Martin eventually finishing more than 13 minutes after Sagan had crossed the line, with teammate Johan Vansummeren a further three minutes behind.

Before that point, and with the peloton effectively split in half with just 20km remaining in the stage, the break was in the crosshairs of Orica-GreenEdge. Behind, the battered and bruised received attention, medical or otherwise. With 15km remaining there was 2:30 separating the two segments of the field, as Robert Gesink noticeably struggled – a frustratingly familiar story for the first week of the Tour for the Dutchman.

Flying run to the finish

The 10km banner saw the break holding onto a 14-second lead, with Goss increasingly looking the favourite to take line honours given that Greipel and Cavendish had suffered mishaps throughout the day. The latter had been slowed by the crash and wouldn’t figure in the finale at all. Behind them, the group containing Schleck continued to claw back time on the front group, the band of chasers resembling a casualty ward… And their faces spoke volumes for the pain they were enduring.

The final three kilometres saw Zabriskie kick away from his three companions, who were caught by a Lotto-led peloton just 500m later. Grimacing with pain, the veteran called upon the superhero strength of Captain America to stay away but with 1,300m remaining it was the end of Zabriskie’s game.

Soon after the catch was made a long sprint ensued, with Greg Henderson leading out Greipel for what seemed like an eternity (in sprinting terms) but as Peter Sagan’s high cadence kick reached full pitch, the German could only shake his head as he rode to a runner-up position ahead of Goss, who had again valiantly laid everything on the line in pursuit of a stage win.

Full Results

1	Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale	4:37:00
2	André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Belisol Team
3	Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) Orica GreenEdge Cycling Team
4	Kenny Robert Van Hummel (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
5	Juan José Haedo (Arg) Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank
6	Greg Henderson (NZl) Lotto Belisol Team
7	Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre - ISD
8	Luca Paolini (Ita) Katusha Team
9	Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica GreenEdge Cycling Team
10	Brett Lancaster (Aus) Orica GreenEdge Cycling Team	0:00:04

Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne 2012

Cavendish wins in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/kuurne-brussel-kuurne-2012/results)
Mark Cavendish claimed a straightforward victory in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, delivered to the line perfectly by his Sky teammates.

Resplendent in his world champion's jersey, the Manxman took victory by a decisive margin over FDJ-BigMat rider Yauheni Hutarovich. Vacansoleil-DCM's Kenny Van Hummel was two lengths back in third, while world under 23 champion Arnaud Démare (FDJ-BigMat) was a fine fourth.

Cavendish had suffered with illness earlier in the race, but his Sky team set about bringing the race back together for a bunch finish on the flat run-in to the finish in Kuurne. In the finishing straight, CJ Sutton piloted Cavendish to victory.

“After the cobbles I told CJ that I didn’t feel so good,” Cavendish said afterwards. “Once we took control it got better although I was still vomiting. It’s incredible. I don’t know if I can take any credit for this win. The whole day they looked after me. I was never in the win and always in the front of the peloton. It’s a great win.”

Coming into the final kilometre, the stage appeared set for a duel between Cavendish and his great rival André Greipel (Lotto Belisol) but the German found himself boxed in and faded in the final meters, finishing tenth.

“At 300m from the finish line I was confident that I could not lose the sprint. Then Van Hummel swerved from right to left and there was no more space for me. I should’ve gone earlier,” a clearly disappointed Greipel said.

A fast start

In a quick and nervous first hour at 50km/h no attacks proved successful. After a collective stop at a railway crossing a group powered away.

Seven riders made the day's early breakaway: Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Niko Eeckhout (An Post-Sean Kelly), Jérôme Baugnies (Team Netapp), Koen Barbé (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony), Gilles Devillers (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony), Justin Van Hoecke (Wallonie Bruxelles-Credit Agricole) and Julien Fouchard (Cofidis, le credit en ligne).

At the fourth climb of the day the seven had a gap of four minutes on a peloton led by the Sky team. By the time they reached the Oude Kwaremont, the gap was down to three minutes. Van Avermaet set the pace up front, dropping all his companions except for 41 year-old Eeckhout. At the top of the long cobbled helling another half a minute was whittled off the gap thanks to the efforts from Maarten Wynants (Rabobank) at the front of the peloton.

The selective climb caused some damage and the peloton split in several groups. A first group of about twenty-five riders including fast men Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda) and John Degenkolb (Project 1t4i) quickly picked up half a minute on a sprinter-studded peloton where Lotto-Belisol did the work.

With seventy kilometers to go Eeckhout and Van Avermaet were re-joined by Barbé, Fouchard and Baugnies. They had 1:30 on the Boonen group, with the peloton trailing by fifty more seconds, but efforts from the Vancansoleil-DCM team, Lotto-Belisol and Europcar closed first the gap to the Boonen group, and then the fate of the seven up front was sealed.

Eeckhout’s effort

As his group was being brought back, Eeckhout attacked and was followed by Wouter Mol (Vacancoleil-DCM), and was later joined by Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Katusha), Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur-Sojasun), Jan Ghyselinck (Cofidis) and Sébastien Delfosse (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony).

With Sky content to let a group dangle just within their reach, the new escape quickly picked up half a minute at 40km from the finish line. When approaching the finish line a first time, having two more local circuits of 16km ahead of them, the gap ran up to a minute.

The Sky train was in full control, however, and one lap later half a minute was gone from that gap. At 10km from the finish line there were only 10 seconds left and a bunch sprint seemed unavoidable.

Once more it was Eeckhout who was the last man standing, having attacked his companions as the peloton was nipping on their heels, and had a brief foray with a Engoulvent before the high pace of the Sky-led group sped past.

With four men ahead of Cavendish, Sky hurtled into the finishing chute at such a pace that no rider stood a chance at coming around the world champion. Only Hutarovich could get close to his wheel, while Van Hummel looked glued to the tarmac as he struggled over the final meters to claim third.

Full Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Mark Cavendish (GBr) Sky Procycling	4:27:30
2	Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) FDJ-Big Mat
3	Kenny Robert Van Hummel (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
4	Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
5	Alexander Serebryakov (Rus) Team Type 1 - Sanofi
6	Tom Veelers (Ned) Project 1t4i
7	Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Team Europcar
8	Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's
9	Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha Team
10	André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Belisol Team