AStage 6: Abbeville > Le Havre, 191.5km
It was a day to remember for Daniel Teklehaimanot who made history by becoming the first rider from Eritrea and the first black African to take a leaders jersey at the Tour de France. It was a day to forget for Tony Martin who became the second man in the space of six stages to abandon the Tour while wearing the Yellow jersey.
For Teklehaimanot of the MTN-Qhubeka team -- the first African team to ride in the Tour -- it was the fulfilment of a life long dream achieved when he got into the days break and snapped up each of the available three King of the Mountain points. Teklehaimanot has said that he would like to defend the jersey as long as possible, and it's certainly possible that he can keep it over the next couple of stages, but come the high mountains on Tuesday he'll have a real battle on his hands, but if he's up to the challenge then I'll certainly be supporting him on it.
On a stage made for the scenery and built for the sprinters the break of Teklehaimanot, Perrig Quémeneur (Europcar) -- on the attack for the third time already in this Tour -- and Kenneth Van Bilsen (Cofidis) was always going to dangle, but never survive and so it proved to be the case as the last man, Van Bilsen, was swept up on the streets of Le Havre and at the foot of that short-sharp little climb up to the line. And it was there that things unraveled for Martin.
He touched the wheel of the rider in front as the punchy riders began to press the issue going under the red kite, leaned to his right in an attempt to keep his balance but hit Warren Barguil triggering a domino effect of collisions that took down Barguil, Vincenzo Nibali, Tejay Van Gardener and Nairo Quintana with Chris Froome narrowly missing out. After the race Nibali would initially blame Froome for the crash and it led to Froome storming into the Astana team bus post-race to confront Nibali, but a sit down between the pair quickly cleared the air as Niabli apologized for wrongly accusing Froome. Such is the stress in the heat of the moment in the Tour.
As the TV cameras lingered on the accident while the race charged on up the hill, it was clear Martin was in trouble, holding his collarbone in that all too infamous pose of a cyclist in trouble after a crash. By the time the camera did cut back to the finish line, Martin's Etixx Quickstep team-mate, Zdenek Stybar, riding in his first Tour, had gone clear. The rest looked to Peter Sagan to take up the chase, but aware that this is precisely what he had done a year ago only to tow the rest across and watch them come by him on the line, Sagan held station. By the time the sprint did open up it was too late and Stybar held on for a fine victory, Sagan coming in, naturally, in second.
Frustrating for Sagan no doubt, but it's the game he has to play in the short term -- to show the rest he won't always be the one to chase down the moves -- if he's to win often in the long term.
But neither Sybar nor Teklehaimanot got the headlines that evening as on any other day they would have. All attention was on Martin who was pushed home by a handful of team-mates and, after a quick visit to congratulate Stybar, was whisked off to the medical centre to have himself checked out.
Later in the evening it was confirmed that his collarbone was indeed broken and and his Tour was done. He had joined Fabian Cancellara as men to have crashed out in Yellow in this Tour sparking talk of some kind of curse. Chris Froome will inherit the jersey again but tradition and etiquette should dictate that he won't wear it tomorrow, and given the treatment it has dished out to those who have, he may not want to. With Tom Dumoulin exiting the Tour several days ago we've now seen three of six riders to have sat in the top three overall at one point or another in these first six days crash out.
| Result: | Classement: |
| 1. Stybar (EQS) in 4h53'46" 2. Sagan (TCS) 3. Coquard (EUC) 4. Degenklob (TGA) 5. Van Avermaet (BMC) 6. Gallopin (LTS) all s.t. | 1. Martin (EQS) in 22h13'14" 2. Froome (SKY) +12" 3. Van Garderen (BMC) +25" 4. Sagan (TCS) +27" 5. Gallopin (LTS) +38" 6. Van Avermaet (BMC) +40" |
