RICCARDO Ricco timed his assault to perfection to win the first summit finish in the Tour de France at Super Besse.
Ricco, the Saunier Duval climbing specialist, outfoxed race favourites Alejandro Valverde and Cadel Evans to win by one second in the sixth stage of the Tour – a 195.5km ride through the mid-mountains of the Massif Central.
The major incident of a
difficult final climb was the fall of yellow jersey holder Stefan Schumacher, who collided with a Gerolsteiner team-mate as he closed in on the summit.
Kim Kirchen, whose Columbia team-mate Mark Cavendish won Wednesday's stage, assumes the maillot jaune, six seconds ahead of race favourite Evans. Ricco's win was his first in the Tour de France and it continues a fine season for the 24-year-old Italian, who also won two stages of the Giro d'Italia. But he is still a long way from challenging for outright victory in France, trailing Kirchen by three minutes 52 seconds.
Schumacher, who fell with 300 metres to go, hangs on to fourth spot, 16 seconds back.
Britain's David Millar, of Garmin Chipotle, who finished 51 seconds behind Ricco in 59th, drops two places to fifth position in the overall classification, 47 seconds back from Kirchen.
The full article contains 216 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
