Sprint specialist Andre Greipel won a drizzly sixth stage of the Tour de France on Thursday, as crashes again thinned the peloton of support riders for rivals hoping to strip Vincenzo Nibali of the maillot jaune.
The German champion collected his sixth career Tour stage victory in Champagne country and the celebrated capital of many French kings by outpacing Norway’s Alexander Kristoff in second and France’s Samuel Dumoulin in third.
At the end of the 194km ride from Arras to Reims, France, Lotto-Belisol’s Greipel burst out of the peloton with less than 300m left and clenched his fists, shouting, at the finish. His job was made a bit easier because Marcel Kittel, a fellow German who has won three stages and dominated the sprint finishes for Giant-Shimano, got a flat tire just before the finish line.
Photo: Reuters
“I had really good punch today, I am really happy,” said Greipel, who turns 32 on Wednesday. “Of course, I’m not looking at Kittel. I don’t need to hide. I am still one of the fastest in the bunch. There was a lot of pressure on us, on my shoulders, [for a win]. It’s a big relief for us.”
The top of the standings did not change, as most of the contenders for victory in the three-week race trailed close behind the muscular Greipel. He was not a challenger for the overall title — like many sprinters, he does not fare well on the climbs that are crucial to winning in Paris. He is more than 37 minutes behind Nibali.
Overall, Nibali had a two-second lead over Astana teammate Jakob Fuglsang of Denmark.
Photo: AFP
Cannondale Pro Cycling’s Peter Sagan of Slovakia was third, 44 seconds back. Two-time Tour champion Alberto Contador, a day after losing about two-and-a-half minutes to Nibali, was dealt another setback: His Tinkoff-Saxo teammate Jesus Hernandez dropped out after a crash.
Among the other possible contenders, Sky Pro Cycling’s Richie Porte was 1 minute, 54 seconds back, in eighth place. The Australian inherited the leadership of Sky after injured defending champion Chris Froome dropped out on Wednesday following two crashes in a rain-splattered ride.
Porte, too, lost a teammate: Spanish veteran Xabier Zandio was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital with a suspected rib fracture and severe back injury after a spill with about 79km left, according to the race medical report. It listed a total of 14 riders with varying injuries from “two big crashes.”
“It was such a stressful day — horrible actually,” Porte said. “The guys were around me all day, and while we lost Xabi Zandio to the crash, the rest of us kept out of trouble and we live to fight another day.”
Garmin-Sharp’s Andrew Talansky of the US, the winner of the Criterium du Dauphine last month, was ninth, 2:05 back. Spaniard Alejandro Valverde of Movistar was 10th, 2:11 back, while his compatriot Contador was in 18th, 2:37 behind.
Nibali said that while Froome’s out, “I’m still afraid of Contador,” and he expects the Spaniard and the other aspirants to attack when the race enters the eastern Vosges mountains today — culminating with an tough uphill finish in Monday’s stage 10.
“It’s true that you can lose a lot of energy defending the yellow jersey, but I’ve been riding well,” Nibali said through a translator. “It’s a heavy task to wear it... [but] to have the jersey could be a little advantage in the coming stages. We’ll take it day by day.”
With the Tour giving a nod to 100 years since the start of World War I, French President Francois Hollande honored the fallen and took a ride with race director Christian Prudhomme on Thursday. The Tour chief led a ceremony honoring 1909 winner Francois Faber, one of three winners of early Tours who died in the war.
Yesterday’s mostly flat stage 7 was a 234.5km trek from Epernay to Nancy — the second-longest stage.
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