Back to 2012 Tour de France | Stage 6 map and profile | Stage 6 photos

Stage 6, Friday, July 6: Épernay - Metz, 207.5 km

Rated climb: Km 145.0: Côte de Buxières, 2.7 km @ 3.8% - Category 4

The Race: It should have been a final, easy flat stage before tomorrow's hilltop finish. A 4-man break wasn't cleaned up completely until less than a kilometer to when holdout David Zabriskie was caught. The final sprint was a race between Peter Sagen and André Greipel, which Sagen won.

But the bigger story was a huge crash with about 20 kilometers to go. It seemed to happen on a slightly downhill portion, when speeds were rather high. The road was blocked by the carnage and service cars couldn't get to their riders to give them new bikes. It was heartbreaking to watch Frank Schleck and the rest wait 2 1/2 minutes before they could get going again. They chased hard, but by then the sprinters' team were driving the peloton hard. Most of the contenders caught in the crash, Scarponi, Rolland, Valverde, Schleck, Brajkovic, lost 2 minutes and 9 seconds. Ryder Hesjedal finished more than 13 minutes after Sagen won the stage.

Results:

1. Peter Sagan (Liquigas) 4hr 37min 0sec. 44.9 km/hr
2. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) s.t.
3. Matthew Harley Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) s.t.
4. Kenny Robert Van Hummel (Vacansoleil) s.t.
5. Juan José Haedo (Saxo-Tinkoff) s.t.
6. Greg Henderson (Lotto-Belisol) s.t.
7. Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre) s.t.
8. Luca Paolini (Katusha) s.t.
9. Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge) s.t.
10. Brett Lancaster (Orica-GreenEdge) @ 4sec
11. Sébastien Hinault (Ag2r) s.t.
12. Roy Curvers (Argos-Shimano) s.t.
13. Julien Simon (Saur-Sojasun) s.t.
14. Cadel Evans (BMC) s.t.
15. Bernhard Eisel (Sky) s.t.
16. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) s.t.
17. Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil) s.t.
18. Andréas Klöden (Radio Shack-Nissan) s.t.
19. Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) s.t.
20. Nicolas Roche (Ag2r) s.t.
21. Bradley Wiggins (Sky) s.t.
22. Ruben Perez (Euskaltel) s.t.
23. Maxime Monfort (Radio Shack-Nissan) s.t.
24. Michael Rogers (Sky) s.t.
25. Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) s.t.
26. Jurgen Van Den Boreck (Lotto-Belisol) s.t.
27. Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto-Belisol) s.t.
28. Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) s.t.
29. George Hincapie (BMC) s.t.
30. Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil) s.t.
31. Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel) s.t.
32. Jonathan Cantwell (Saxo-Tinkoff) s.t.
33. Tony Gallopin (Radio Shack-Nissan) s.t.
34. Philippe Gilbert (BMC) s.t.
35. Gorka Izaguirre (Euskaltel) s.t.
36. Christian Knees (Sky) s.t.
37. Fabian Cancellara (Radio Shack-Nissan) s.t.
38. Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) s.t.
39. Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) s.t.
40. Mikel Cherel (Ag2r) s.t.
41. Jérôme Pineau (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) s.t.
42. Christopher Froome (Sky) s.t.
43. Kevin De Weert (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) s.t.
44. Christopher Horner (Radio Shack-Nissan)s.t.
45. Jorge Azanza (Euskaltel) s.t.
46. Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) s.t.
47. Sébastien Monard (Ag2r) s.t.
48. Jérémy Roy (FDJ-Big Mat) s.t.
49. Rémy Di Gregorio (Cofidis) s.t.
50. Haimar Zubeldia (Radio Shack-Nissan) s.t.
80. Michele Scarponi (Lampre) @ 2min 9sec
81. Janez Brajkovic (Astana) s.t.
82. Frank Schleck (Radio Shack-Nissan) s.t.
85. Pierre Rolland (Europcar) s.t.
97. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) s.t.
101. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) s.t.
181. Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) @ 13min 24sec

General Classification: 1,218.5 km raced so far at an average speed of 41.48 km/hr

1. Fabian Cancellara (Radio Shack-Nissan) 29hr 22min 36sec
2. Bradley Wiggins (Sky) @ 7sec
3. Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) s.t.
4. Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) @ 10sec
5. Denis Menchov (Katusha) @ 13sec
6. Cadel Evans (BMC) @ 17sec
7. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) @ 18sec
8. Peter Sagen (Liquigas) @ 19sec
9. Andréas Klöden (Radio Shack-Nissan) s.t.
10. Maxime Monfort (Radio Shack-Nissan) @ 22sec
11. Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) s.t.
12. Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil) @ 23sec
13. Vladimir Gusev (Katusha) @ 24sec
14. Haimar Zubeldia (Radio shack-Nissan) s.t.
15. Nicolas Roche (Ag2r) @ 25sec
16. Michael Rogers (Sky) s.t.
17. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) @ 28sec
18. Ivan Basso (Liquigas) @ 29sec
19. Eduard Vorganov (Katusha) @ 35sec
20. Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) @ 40sec
21. Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Movistar) @ 42sec
22. Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) @ 42sec
23. Jérôme Coppel (Saur-Sojasun) @ 48sec
24. Christopher Horner (Radio Shack-Nissan) @ 1min 29sec
25. Egoi Mrtinez (Euskaltel) @ 1min 30sec
26. Tony Gallopin (Radio shack-Nissan) @ 1min 38sec
27. Christopher Froome (Sky) @ 1min 41sec
28. Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) @ 2min 9sec
29. Edvald Boasson hagen (Sky) @ 2min 16sec
30. Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) @ 2min 26sec
31. Janez Brajkovic (Astana) @ 2min 27sec
32. George Hincapie (BMC) s.t.
33. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r) @ 2min 28sec
34. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) @ 2min 40sec
35. Gorka Izaguirre (euskaltel) s.t.
36. Michele Scarponi (Lampre) @ 2min 42sec
37. Frank Schleck (Radio Shack-Nissan) @ 2min 43sec
38. Baden Cooke (Orica GreenEdge) @ 2min 46sec
39. Nick Nuyens (Saxo-Tinkoff) @ 2min 48sec
40. Pierre Rolland (Europcar) @ 2min 50sec
41. Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-Big Mat) @ 2min 52sec
42. Rémy Di Gregorio (Cofidis) @ 2min 545sec
43. Jelle Vanendert (Lotto-Belisol) @ 3min 5sec
44. Rafale Valls (Vacansoleil) @ 3min 6sec
45. Kevin De Weert (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) @ 3min 44sec
46. Michael Schär (BMC) @ 3min 50sec
47. Gregory Henderson (Lotto-Belisol) @ 3min 57sec
48. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) @ 4min 0sec
49. Davide Malacarne (Europcar) @ 4min 2sec
50. Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil) @ 4min 3sec
108. Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) @ 13min 38sec
115. Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) @ 14min 17sec

Climber:

1. Michael Morkov (Saxo-Tinkoff): 9 points
2. Ivan Basso (Liquigas): 2
3. Peter Sagen (Liquigas): 2
4. David Moncoutié (Cofidis): 2
5. Anthony Delaplace (Saur-Sojasun): 2

Points:

1. Peter Sagen (Liquigas): 209 points
2. Matthew Harley Goss (Orica-GreenEdge): 178
3. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol): 167
4. Mark Cavendish (Sky): 129
5. Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre): 109

Young Rider:

1. Tejay Van Gardeen (BMC) 29hr 22min 46sec
2. Peter Sagen (Liquigas) @ 9sec
3. Tony Gallopin (Radio Shack-Nissan) @ 1min 28sec
4. Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) @ 1min 47sec
5. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) @ 2min 6sec

Team Classification:

1. Sky: 88hr 8min 22sec
2. Radio Shack-Nissan @ 4sec
3. BMC @ 6sec
4. Omega Pharma-Quick Step) @ 13sec
5. Liquigas @ 25sec

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Stage 6 map and profile

Stage 6 map

Stage 6 profile

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Stage 6 photos:

Robert Gesink stuffs his pockets

David Moncoutié signs autographs

Alejandro Valverde checks his bike.

Tony Martin

Peter Sagen

Frank Schleck with Tour road director Jean-François Pescheaux

French hard-guy Sylvain Chavanel with his team boss, Patrick Lefevre

The pack has just gone under the 1-kilometer banner and the Lotto train is taking Greipel to the finish. Note Green Jersey Peter Sagan tucked right on Greipel's wheel

Sagen so completely overwhelmed Greipel, the German shut down his sprint early.

Fabian Cancellara avoided the day's carnage and finish safely in the front group.

Frank Schleck heads for home after a disastrous day.

Will Cancellara be in yellow after tomrrow's day in the mountains?

David Zabriskie's aggression earned him the day's combativity prize.

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