On a day slated for the strong men of sprinting it was arguably the world's strongest sprinter, Thor Hushovd, who had not only the fastest but the mightiest legs as the Tour de France came to the Olympic city of Barcelona in Stage 6, a 181.5km journey from Girona.
A chaotic run into the city, marked by numerous crashes, left a peleton of just around 50 riders to contest the sprint. And although Mark Cavendish was present, his team was depleted, and he did not quite have the legs to pull himself up the incline over the final two kilometres. That was the only chance Hushovd needed, and he proved the most powerful over the last 500 metres to take the win and reduce Cavendish's (16th) lead in the Green Jersey competition to a single point. The rest of the podium was filled by a pair of Spaniards who were unlucky not to taste victory on home soil. Triple world-champion and last years Green Jersey winner Oscar Friere was second while Jose Joaqin Rojas put in a surprisingly good effort to finish third.
A commendation must also go to David Millar. Part of the initial three (and then four) man escape group, he took off for a solo effort with almost 30km remaining. With 10km to go he still led by over a minute and an improbable victory still looked likely. However, the uphill rise to the finish did for him in the end and he was swept up in the final kilometre.
The majority of the GC riders managed to survive the carnage, except for one. And unfortunately for Australia, that one was Michael Rogers. Rogers crashed 30km out from the finish, brought down by Australian born-German Heinrich Haussler. And while Haussler got up and continued on his merry way, Rogers was in the hands of the doctors for a long time. His crash coincided with the peleton deciding to chase down the days breakaway, and from their Rogers was never a chance to get back on. He limped in, third last on the stage, losing 13:14 to the lead group. While it looks as though he will be fit enough to continue, his GC chances have disappeared. No Australian will be wearing the yellow jersey in Paris this year.
Outside of Rogers there was no change to the overall classification with Fabian Cancellara still holding yellow by the barest of margins from Lance Armstrong. However, there was a change in the mountains classification, with Stephane Auge earning enough points out on the road in the days breakaway to take the jersey from Jussi Veikkanen. However, this is likely to be a temporary transistion.
Tonight sees the first major mountains of the 2009 edition as the peleton climbs up to Andorra and the ski resort of Arcalis. If Alberto Contador wants the team lead at Astana, he will have to prove it on today's stage - so be prepared for some fireworks. Can Cancellara hold his lead? The yellow jersey is a big chance to change hands. And with a category 1 and hors cateogry climb present in Stage 7 the polka dot jersey is also likely to go to whoever is first over the mountains tomorrow.
Yellow Jersey - Fabian Cancellara
Green Jersey - Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey - Stephane Auge
White Jersey - Tony Martin
Photo courtesy of Yahoo Sports.
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