Tour de Lance STAGE6

[PTRON]

Boonen sprints to victory in crash-marred stage 6
By Rupert Guinness
Special to VeloNews
This report filed July 9, 2004

The thrill of victory
Quick Step's Tom Boonen avoided a dramatic last-minute pile-up in the peloton before going on to claim a deserved victory on the sixth stage of the Tour de France Angers on Friday.

Thomas Voeckler, of the La Boulangere team, retained the race leader's yellow jersey after the 196km ride Bonneval and here.

Boonen, 23, claimed his first ever stage win on the race on the back of a blistering season so far which has seen him win a number of prestigious one-day victories and stages.
Boonen stays ahead of the carnage to claim his first Tour stage win
But it was the frightening realities of the high-speeds at the world's biggest bicycle race that took center stage again at the Tour when a massive crash just inside the last kilometer left Austrian sprinter Rene Haselbacher in hospital with a broken nose and three fractured ribs and several other riders, including American Tyler Hamilton, bruised and battered after a week of racing.
Haselbacher was taken by ambulance to the Centre Hospitalier d'Angers, where doctors diagnosed the injuries that mean an end to his Tour this year. The Gerolsteiner rider was also later blamed for causing the spill that left a depleted group of only about 25 riders to contest the uphill sprint finish.
Boonen edged out Stage 5 winner Stuart O'Grady (Cofidis), with the German veteran Erik Zabel (T-Mobile) in third.

"I like sprints like that," said Boonen, this year's winner of two Belgian classics, Ghent-Wevelgem and the Schelde Prijs. "The finish was hard, and it was good for sprinters who are very strong and I am very strong."

In Boonen's wake though was the rest of the field, slowly rolling to the finish in ones, twos, threes, fours and fives after managing to extricate themselves from the mesh of tangled body and bikes.

Officials later ruled that the accident, which occurred right at the 1km-to-go banner, was within the final kilometer and credited the entire peloton with the same finishing time as the winner Boonen. Had the accident occurred even 20 meters back, it may have resulted in a tumultuous and unexpected reshuffle in the overall classification that could well have determined the final overall outcome.

Many injured
As it was, there was no change in GC and Frenchman Thomas Voeckler (La Boulangere) still leads by 3:01 over O'Grady and 4:06 on Frenchman Sandy Casar (FDjeux.com).

Nevertheless, the incident had enough of an impact to potentially damage the Tour campaigns of some riders, chief among them Hamilton.

A Phonak team spokesman said the 33-year-old Phonak has "significant bruising" to his back after he landed flat on it. Several Phonak riders were caught up in the crash, including Spanish climber Oscar Sevilla, Frenchman Nicolas Jalabert, Swiss Martin Elmiger and German Bert Grabsch, who were all injured to some degree in the pile-up.

Hamilton, meanwhile, got caught up in the final spill
Australian Robbie McEwen was another notable victim, losing his green points jersey to O'Grady, the day's second-place finisher. O'Grady now leads the race for the green jersey with 115 points to the 113 of McEwen who was one of the last riders to cross the finish line.

McEwen, a clear leader in the points category before the stage began, came in about five minutes down, suffering from serious abrasions on both hips and arms; he was later checked for possible ligament and bone damage.

While taking the green jersey via McEwen's demise was not the way O'Grady wished, he wasn't going to hand it back -- were that even possible.

"It is not the best way to take the green jersey ... in a crash," he said. "True ... Robbie fell today. But I have fallen three times before and lost points as well."
Also caught up in the crash were race leader Voeckler and defending Tour champion Lance Armstrong.

The Texan did not fall -- although he did in an earlier crash -- but admitted after crossing the line in 34t

[Jimbo]

Good recap ,nice job.If a broken colar bone didn't stop
Hamilton last year.Don't think a bruised back will this
year.