July 10th, 2008 by 
thien
The tour’s first real mountain stage found Italian Riccardo Riccò beating out tour favorites Alejandro Valverde and Cadel Evans in the uphill sprint finish into Super Besse today. Current Maillot Jaune wearer Stefan Schumacher touched wheels in the final kilometers and went down within 1km to the finish. Unfortunately the 3km rule does not apply during mountain top finishes, Schumacher was not able to recover in time and has lost the yellow jersey. Kim Kirchen now moves into 1st place with his 5th place finish, and will be in yellow tomorrow.
Have something to add, or want to chime in with your stage thoughts? We welcome comments below!
Stage Results
1 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott - 4.57.52
2 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne - 0.01
3 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto
4 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank - 0.04
5 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia
6 Moises Dueñas Nevado (Spa) Barloworld - 0.07
7 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas
8 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank
9 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank
10 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott
General Classification after Stage 6
1 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia - 24.30.41
2 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto - 0.06
3 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner - 0.16
4 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 - 0.44
5 David Millar (GBr) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 - 0.47
6 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia - 0.54
7 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank - 1.03
8 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne - 1.12
9 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Quick Step
10 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne
Jersey Standings:
Kim Kirchen
Kim Kirchen
Sylvain Chavanel
Thomas Lövkvist
Links to news sites…
“Kirchen succeeds Gaul to pull on yellow jersey
SUPER-BESSE, France (AFP) — Team Columbia’s Kim Kirchen created his own piece of Tour de France history by becoming the first Luxemburger in nearly 50 years to pull on the race’s yellow jersey on Thursday.
Italian Riccardo Ricco of Saunier Duval won the sixth stage, a hilly 195.5km race from Aigurande to here in the Massif Central which played host to the first skirmishes between the big race favourites.” Read more from the AFP…
“Ricco wins 6th stage, Kirchen in yellow
SUPER-BESSE, France (AP) — Riccardo Ricco of Italy has won the sixth stage of the Tour de France, sprinting to a mountaintop victory.
Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg took the yellow jersey Thursday when overall leader Stefan Schumacher of Germany fell in the final yards.
Ricco came in ahead of Alejandro Valverde of Spain and Cadel Evans of Australia at the end of the 122-mile ride through the peaks of the Massif Central from Aigurande to the ski resort of Super-Besse.” Read more from The Associated Press…
“Ricco wins stage as Kirchen takes yellow
(CNN) - Italian climber Riccardo Ricco of Saunier Duval won the 195.5km sixth stage of the Tour de France in the Massif Central on Thursday, with Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg taking the race leader’s yellow jersey.
Riccardo Ricco leaves Valverde and Evans trailing to win the sixth stage of the Tour de France.
Riccardo Ricco leaves Valverde and Evans trailing to win the sixth stage of the Tour de France.” Read more from CNN International…
“Riccò takes the stage, disaster for Schumacher
Italian Riccardo Riccò took his first Tour de France stage victory atop the climb at Super Besse, besting Alejandro Valverde and Cadel Evans in the uphill sprint. The finish was overshadowed by a crash from yellow jersey wearer Stefan Schumacher, who was in the lead group in the final kilometre, but touched wheels and crashed. The judges do not apply the same time rule for crash victims on hilltop finishes, so the German lost his overall lead to Kim Kirchen (Columbia) who finished fifth.” Read more from CyclingNews.com…
“Riccò wins atop Super-Besse
Kirchen takes yellow jersey as race leader Schumacher crashes near finish
By Ben Delaney
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.”Read more from VeloNews.com…
Photo Credit - CorVos
