September 11/07 5:05 am - Tour de l'Avenir Stage 6

Posted by Editor on 09/11/07
 

Tour de l'Avenir - France
Report Kris Westwood - CCA
Keven Lacombe of the Canadian team was seventh in stage six of the Tour de l'Avenir today, while Christian Meier maintained his 11th place in the overall standings.

The 143 km leg from Contres to Saint-Amand-Montrond was the last flat stage of the Tour. The racing was dominated by a five-rider breakaway that formed 49 km into the stage and entered the final 10 km with a three minute lead.

Jose Herrada (Spain) dropped his breakaway companions to win the stage, and Lacombe was second in the bunch sprint a little over two minutes behind the winner.

"I knew it was my last chance for a stage result today because I'm not a great climber," said Lacombe. "Brad Fairall did a great leadout for me and I was second in the bunch sprint, but it's too bad we weren't sprinting for the stage win."

Earlier in the day, Canada's David Veilleux broke away on his own after just 12 km had been covered, but the German team of yellow jersey Tony Martin kept the tempo too high for a break to gain much ground and Veilleux was caught a few kilometers later.

Meier came through the stage without any major difficulties despite some tense racing due to the crosswinds. The biggest scare came with about 30 km to go when the field was shattered into four groups under pressure from the Dutch team, and Meier found himself in the second echelon, but everything came together before the final climb with 19 km to go.

Tomorrow's stage takes the riders from Cérilly to finish at altitude in Super Besse, taking in several major climbs along the way.

Stage 6 - Contres to Saint-Amand-Montrond 144 km


1 Jose Herrada (Spanish National Team) 3:17:05
2 Dario Cataldo (Italian National Team) at 0:04
3 Gatis Smukulis (Latvian National Team) 0:12
4 Marco Coledan (Italian National Team) 1:03
5 Martins Trautmanis (Latvian National Team) 1:08
6 Martin Kohler (Swiss National Team) 2:12
7 Keven Lacombe (Canadian National Team)
8 Andrey Klyuev (Russian National Team)
9 Maciej Paterski (Polish National Team)
10 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Belgian National Team)

59 Bradley Fairall (Canadian National Team)
60 Ryan Anderson (Canadian National Team)
75 David Veilleux (Canadian National Team)
79 Christian Meier (Canadian National Team) all s.t.
94 Eric Boily (Canadian National Team) 2:42

GC

1 Tony Martin (German National Team) 19:43:55
2 Andre Steensen (Danish National Team) at 0:18
3 Bauke Mollema (Dutch National Team) 0:19
4 Simon Spilak (Slovenian National Team) 0:46
5 Craig Lewis (USA National Team) 1:11
6 Kristof Vandewalle (Belgian National Team) 1:16
7 Yoann Offredo (French National Team B) 1:20
8 Benat Intxausti (Spanish National Team) 1:25
9 Tom Leezer (Dutch National Team) 1:35
10 Frederik Wilmann (Norwegian National Team) 1:45

11 Christian Meier (Canadian National Team) 1:56
50 Ryan Anderson (Canadian National Team) 9:12
70 Bradley Fairall (Canadian National Team) 10:30
83 David Veilleux (Canadian National Team) 12:59
102 Keven Lacombe (Canadian National Team) 19:34
117 Eric Boily (Canadian National Team) 1:10:36

Points Classification
1 Dario Cataldo (Italian National Team) 81 points
2 Bauke Mollema (Dutch National Team) 75
3 Martin Kohler (Swiss National Team) 54
4 Gatis Smukulis (Latvian National Team) 53
5 Nikolas Maes (Belgian National Team) 53

10 Keven Lacombe (Canadian National Team) 38
56 Bradley Fairall (Canadian National Team) 5
57 Christian Meier (Canadian National Team) 4

Mountains Classification
1 Marco Coledan (Italian National Team) 22 points
2 Dario Cataldo (Italian National Team) 13
3 Martin Kohler (Swiss National Team) 8
4 Kasper Jebjerg (Danish National Team) 8
5 Marcel Wyss (Swiss National Team) 7

8 Christian Meier (Canadian National Team) 3

Team GC
1 Denmark 59:16:39
2 Netherlands at 1:25
3 Switzerland 5:17
4 France B 7:10
5 Slovenia 9:26

17 Canada 15:16