The maillot jaune seems to be an unlucky charm at this Tour de France.
German rider Tony Martin started Thursday’s sixth stage in the lead and ended it in the hospital after breaking his collarbone in a crash that he caused near the finish line. He became the second race leader to pull out of the race, after Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara of Trek Factory Racing fractured two vertebrae in his lower back on Monday.
“The collarbone is in lots of pieces, so it was a major impact,” Martin’s Etixx Quick-Step team doctor Helge Riepenhof said. “One of the pieces came through the skin, which means it’s an open fracture.”
Photo: AP
The crash also dragged down defending champion Vincenzo Nibali of Astana and fellow Tour contender Nairo Quintana of Movistar, but they escaped with cuts and bruises. Martin’s teammate Zdenek Stybar of the Czech Republic rode away amid the chaos to clinch his first Tour stage win.
While neither Martin nor Cancellara was a contender for the overall victory, the injuries they sustained highlight how tough this Tour has been already — and the battered riders have not even reached the mountains yet.
There was intense heat on the first day, ferocious side winds on the second, a huge crash on the third, scary cobblestone sections on the fourth and lashing rain on the fifth. Then on the sixth day, another crash.
Photo: EPA
“This has been like a movie, an emotional roller coaster at this Tour,” Martin said.
Frenchman William Bonnet of FDJ injured his neck after causing Monday’s crash, which brought down 30 riders, while Australian rider Michael Matthews of Orica-GreenEdge finished Thursday’s ride despite having two broken ribs sustained on the third stage. He is in last place overall.
With Martin out, 2013 Tour champion Chris Froome of Team Sky moves into the overall lead.
Photo: Reuters
The Briton could have elected not to wear the maillot jaune yesterday — a sign of respect toward Martin under cycling’s etiquette guidelines and he might be better off without it.
Martin, the maillot jaune shining, moved near the front during the final kilometers in order to put teammate Mark Cavendish in a good position to attack. He lost control of his bike with about 900m to go. It swerved to the right, clipped another bike and then brought down eight other riders.
Moments later, he was sitting against a railing, staring into space as the dazed riders looked around for their bikes.
Photo: AP
Unable to hold his handlebar, with his left arm in a sling position, Martin rolled slowly over the line with several teammates alongside him.
Spanish two-time Tour champion Alberto Contador of Tinkoff-Saxo and Froome have escaped all the crashes — although the British rider almost fell when Nibali’s bike swerved into his.
In the confusion, Nibali actually thought Froome was to blame.
Then, after Froome came to Nibali’s Astana team bus to clear things up, the Italian rider performed a swift U-turn and apologized to his Tour rival.
“I was very upset with him, but then, after watching the video, I said sorry to him,” Nibali said. “I moved right, [into] Froome, thought it was his fault. Did we clear it all up? Yeah. We are not footballers, we are cyclists.”
With bikes piled up and riders slowing down, Stybar rode ahead, while Martin sat up on the side of the road.
“I don’t get it yet that I have won a stage on the Tour,” said 29-year-old Stygar, a former cyclo-cross rider.
“It’s an amazing feeling, but on the other hand I feel really sorry for Tony,” Stygar said. “It’s the Tour de France — it’s just crazy, crazy. You don’t know what will happen around each corner.”
Slovakian Peter Sagan of Tinkoff-Saxo, chasing a fourth straight maillot vert as the Tour’s best sprinter, finished in second place, two seconds behind.
Quintana had blood dripping from his right arm and elbow as he crossed the line. Froome was relieved to come through the melee with just a minor graze to his knee.
Team Sky’s Froome leads Contador by 36 seconds, Nibali by 1 minute, 38 seconds and Quintana by 1 minute, 56 seconds.
Eritrean rider Daniel Teklehaimanot of MTN-Qhubeka became the first African to seize the maillot a pois rouges for best climber after scoring points while part of an early three-man breakaway.
“It’s huge for African sport,” said Teklehaimanot, the first Eritrean to ride in the Tour.
Yesterday’s seventh stage of the Tour was another designed for the sprinters.
It was due to start in Livarot in the Normandy region — home to a cheese of the same name — and end 190.5km later in Fougeres, nestled in the Brittany region of France.
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