Its that time again ladies and gentlemen, time for the Tour de France. With 5 stages underway the 92nd Tour de France is more exciting than ever. Team Discovery is rolling along with the same precision and focus that they did last year when Lance Armstrong won his 6th consecutive TDF. After 5 days of racing so far and the ITT and TTT Lance Armstrong is still in the Yellow Jersey 55 seconds ahead of his right hand man George Hincapie.
Team Discovery is in good position for Friday's 6th stage of the Tour de France. Stage 6 takes the riders from Lunéville to Karlsruhe, France where two early category 4 and 3 climbs may encourage some attacks by contesting teams to try and gain time on the leader in Yellow Lance Armstrong. The rest of Friday's stage is primarily flat which will ensure a sprint finish and make for an exciting Stage 6.
Here's what VeloNews had to say about today's stage;
Italian Lorenzo Bernucci (Fassa Bortolo) won the sixth stage of the Tour de France held over 199km between Troyes and Nancy on Thursday.
Survivor: Bernucci celebrates his luck... and his first win as a professional
Alexandre Vinokourov (T-Mobile) was second and Robert Forster (Gerolsteiner) third in a thrilling finish that saw Christophe Mengin (Française des Jeux) denied the victory in a last-second crash.
"It's always dangerous when it's raining like that," said Lance Armstrong (Discovery Channel), who crossed safely with the rest of the overall contenders and retains his yellow jersey.
"We always have a good look at the stages when they have a difficult finale. But Johan (Bruyneel) was telling us through the radio earpieces about the dangerous sections in the end, telling us to turn left or right. It was a dangerous stage."
A group of five riders - Mauro Gerosa (Liquigas); Mengin; Stephane Auge (Cofidis); Karsten Kroon (Rabobank) and Jaan Kirsipuu (Crédit Agricole) - formed a group at the 35km mark and built a gap of more than eight minutes before the peloton, led by Lotto and Quick Step, began a serious chase.
With 16km to go and the peloton closing fast, Kirsipuu jumped, with Mengin and Gerosa in tow. And then Mengin went it alone, quickly building an advantage as riders began launching off the front of the chase.
Liquigas's Dario Cioni leapt out of the bunch as it barreled along the wet roads toward the finish, but with 2km to go Mengin was clinging to a slim, 10-second lead.
And then Vino' attacked, bringing Bernucci with him and catching Mengin - who hit the deck in the final 700 meters, sliding out on the white paint of a crosswalk in the final turn and leaving the door wide open for Bernucci, who took the win in front of Vinokourov as the T-Mobile rider threw a leg out to stay upright.
Behind the 31-year-old Kazakh, a massive pile-up ensued, taking down some six riders, including Stuart O'Grady (Cofidis) and Baden Cooke Français des Jeux) - all of whom practically crashed into Mengin as he lay there on the ground.
None of the contenders for the yellow jersey were harmed. And one of them actually benefited from the finale. While Vinokourov may have just missed out on a stage win, he did collect valuable bonus seconds for his runner-up finish and slipped into third overall, 1:02 back of Armstrong.
Mengin, meanwhile, was close to tears after just missing a win in front of his hometown crowd.
"I feel more like a boxer after a fight than a cyclist," said Mengin, whose left eye was black and swollen thanks to a blow from one of the many bikes that ended up crashing into him. "I've got a bit of a black eye where I think a brake lever or gear shifter hit it, and I've got a sore hip on my left side."
Mengin lives only 15km from Nancy and had been hoping, thanks to his knowledge of the local terrain, to be able to hold off the chasing peloton. The Frenchman said he didn't even feel physically up to the win but wanted to give his all to please his home supporters.
"I know the roads well here. I even know that bend where I crashed," explained Mengin. "I didn't even have great legs today, but I had the morale to try something. That's life. You have to give 100 percent when you've got the chance.
Bernucci, meanwhile, conceded that fate had smiled kindly on him.
"I was in a good position on the last bend, then Mengin crashed. It was a dangerous bend because of the rain. Then Vinokourov ended up slowing down, so I just passed him and gave it everything I had in the home straight."
Thats about all for now folks, check back in tomorrow for another TDF update!
-jw