Key moments

Tom Boonen: Back In Charge!

At the end of a long, hot day Tom Boonen has delivered another win for his Quickstep team. The runner-up in the stage to Gent received the perfect lead-out from his colleagues and didn’t disappoint. He will be back in the green jersey after disposing of Oscar Freire and Erik Zabel in a scripted sprint finish. After allowing Bradley Wiggins to fry in the hot sun after he escaped just two kilometers into the 199.5km stage, the sprinters’ teams teased the Brit was caught 7km from the line and then it was all set up for a classic bunch finish. Boonen raced into the lead in the final 150 meters and claimed his first victory in two years.

The 199.5km sixth stage of the 2007 Tour de France – from Semur-en-Auxois to Bourg-end-Bresse – began at 12.50pm. There were 183 riders at the sign on (Lequatre of the Cofidis team abandoned because of injuries sustained in a crash during stage five). The sun was shining on the race and the temperature at the start was a mild 22 degrees Celsius; the forecast was for 26 degrees at the finish in the Ain department. There were just two category-four climbs: at Grandmont (55km) and Braneion (138km). The three intermediate sprints were in: Bligny-sur-Ouche (at 51.5km), Cormatin (127km) and Pont-de-Vaux (161.5km).

Cofidis Go On The Attack Again
Bradley Wiggins (COF) attacked at the 2km mark and the peloton allowed him plenty of leeway; by 10km his advantage was 5’40”! At the 12km mark, Grivko (MRM) took off in pursuit of the Brit; he was 7’00” behind but no one tried to bridge the gap. The chase ended at 18.5km. At the 24km mark, the bunch was 7’40” behind – this was enough to give Cofidis the virtual lead of the Tour for the second time in two days. At the 38km mark, the peloton was 11’20” behind. The average speed for the first hour was 37.6km/h.
The sprint specialists contested the sprint for points at the 51.5km mark: McEwen, Hunter and Boonen raced ahead of the peloton 15’25” behind Wiggins with Boonen adding 4pts to his tally. The only other bout of action from the peloton was when three Cofidis riders tapped out the tempo on the approach to the first climb. Chavanel added another 2pts to his tally in the mountains classification. The maximum gain for Wiggins was 17’30” at the 57km mark. The average speed for the 2nd hour was 36.0km/h.

Pursuing The Pursuit Specialist
With 140km to go the pace of the peloton picked up with Arvesen (CSC) and Vasseur (QSI) the men responsible for sharing the work of the pursuit. At the feedzone (110km to go) a Lampre rider also came to the front of the peloton. The deficit to Wiggins was 11’45”. Degano (BAR) crashed in the feedzone and was forced to abandon. The injured Astana riders – Vinokourov and Kloden – and their colleagues spent most of the day at the rear of the peloton. The average speed for the 3rd hour was 35.6km/h. With 80km to go, Wiggins lost his virtual lead of the Tour: 5km from the 2nd sprint his advantage was down to 5’00”. Quickstep completely committed to leading Boonen out to the sprint at the 127km mark and the leader promptly obliged his colleagues by beating Zabel to the line to regain the lead of the points classification. The peloton was 3’10” behind Wiggins in Cormatin.

Slow Roasted Wiggins
After the sprint, Wiggins increased his pace and pushed his advantage back up to over five minutes. At the top of the 2nd climb he was 5’15” ahead of the peloton that was led by riders from T-Mobile and AG2R for a brief time. Then Charteau (C.A) came to the front and joined forces with the CSC team. The average speed for the 4th hour was 36.0km/h. Unimpressed with a broken spoke with 48km to go, Wiggins calmly stepped off his bike, removed his rear wheel and tossed it to the side of the road. With 33km to go, his lead was 2’30”. The chase was shared by the usual suspects: Milram, T-Mobile, Credit Agricole, Quickstep and Predictor… with 28km to go, the lead was 1’10”. The Brit was left by the peloton to cook in the sun. "It’s the Tour de France," said Wiggins after the stage, "this is not the race that you just sit up and wait for the peloton." He was caught 7km from the line.

Boonen - "Faster Than The Others"
Gerolsteiner, Rabobank, Milram and Quickstep dominated the head of the peloton after Wiggins was caught. After the ’flamme rouge’ Flecha his the accelerator and delivered the peloton to within 500m from the line. Then two Gerolsteiner riders started the sprint, Hunter (BAR) followed, going down the left of the road. Boonen went right and, although baulked by a Gerolsteiner rider, managed to get into the lead. "On the last corner, with 1km to go, my derailleur went into the wheel of another rider [Cavendish]," said Boonen, "and I thought, ’Oh, there goes another chance.’ But my chain stayed on and I started sprinting again." Boonen beat Freire by a bike length claim his first stage win since 2005 and he’s in charge of the points classification.
Fabian Cancellara finished 67th and will wear the yellow jersey in stage seven.

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Bradley Wiggins - "This is the Tour - you can’t just sit up..."

He attacked at the two kilometer mark and ended up riding 191km on his own before being caught but Bradley Wiggins has no regrets about the day he was voted the Most Aggressive Rider in the Tour.

“I knew with about 20km to go that there was no hope that I’d make it to the finish before the peloton. It was a tiring day; it feels like I’ve just done a mountain stage – it was that kind of effort – but this is the Tour de France so any day in the front is a great day. I’m just pleased that it’s over now.
“My team was pretty happy. It’s a French team and the publicity for them is what it’s all about really.
“There was nothing I could do when the peloton was just hovering behind me. I just had to stick it out and wait for the inevitable capture. I wasn’t thinking anything, I was just waiting for them to catch me. This is the Tour so you can’t really sit up. I was pretty tired but I’d probably be in a similar state if I just rode along in the peloton so at least I got something for my time in the lead.”

Fabian Cancellara - "We’re exchanging roles now..."

After a week in the lead of the Tour de France, Fabian Cancellara is aware that it’s all about to change. With the mountains on the horizon, he has effectively surrendered his yellow jersey but the Swiss CSC rider believes that his heir could indeed be a team-mate.

“I’m in yellow and the sun is shining and I’ve had a good time. Tomorrow is another day and it presents a new objective for me. I want to help my team-mates like Carlos Sastre and Frank Schleck because they’ve done great work for me all week. We’re now exchanging roles: it’ll be Fabian on the front in yellow and those two following… until the climbs when they’ll take charge.
“It was hot today and I expect the next few days will be warmer still. The Tour really begins tomorrow.
“It’s been something special for this week. It’s beautiful but it has taken time to realize what happened. Tomorrow on the climbs, I’ll try to do the best I can but I just want to help my team-mates as long as possible. Today was an easy day. It was windy but after yesterday I think everybody was thinking along the same lines: rest easy before what’s to come.”

Tom Boonen – “I’ve got the love back…”

Tom Boonen said that he got the love back today. It’s the Belgian’s way of saying that he was back in winning form at the Tour de France and, although it was a close finish, he had the power to out sprint Oscar Freire and Erik Zabel. When asked how he managed to win, the Quickstep-Innergetic rider stated the obvious: “By riding faster than everyone else.” He’s back in the green jersey on the eve of the first mountain stage. The love is back, and so too his smile.

“It was like every sprint in the Tour; it’s very hectic and the last kilometers – with the wind coming from the right – made it very hard. It was difficult to keep the pace high. Everybody was trying to pass… on the left, the right and, if they could, they would have come underneath me. On the last corner, with one kilometer to go, someone’s wheel went into my derailleur. I was in the 53x11 and my bike was making all sorts of noise and I thought, ‘Oh, it’s finished again.’ Then I stopped pedaling and the chain stayed on the bike so I started sprinting again.
“It wasn’t possible to change gears but I won with a broken bike today.
“The green jersey was the only objective for the day and I took every point that there was. Only, in the last intermediate sprint, Erik [Zabel] asked me not to do the sprint because it was only 40km from the finish and it takes up a lot of energy chasing those points on the road.
“It will be a battle to keep the jersey all the way to Paris. Zabel is the toughest, oldest warrior there is and he will not surrender until we get to the finish of the Tour but I think I’m ready for it. The best thing is, I have a big gap on Robbie [McEwen] and now I only have to take care of Erik… and I think I’m a little bit faster.”

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