Zabel wins stage six and answers critics

GERMAN sprint-meister Erik Zabel put paid to any suggestions his powers are fading as he won stage six of the Tour de France.

The 32-year-old German, six-time green jersey winner on the Tour, powered to his 12th ever stage win barely a bike wheel ahead of speed rival Robbie McEwen. Although Zabel started the day in the green jersey he had it virtually taken off his back on the first sprint of the day by McEwen, and the talk of Zabel losing his sprint title suddenly seemed more than idle speculation.

But in a gripping finish, and aided by some astute work by his team-mates, Zabel was able to work his way to the front of the peloton in the crucial final kilometres through the streets of Alencon. He then showed all his power and experience in the final sprint to beat Spaniard Oscar Freire from the Mapei team into second and, even more significantly, McEwen into third place.

The stage win means Zabel has now equalled the number of victories by legendary Italian rider Mario Cipollini, who never won the overall Tour title and announced his intention to retire after missing a place on this year’s race.

It also reaffirms the German as the man to beat in the race for the green jersey.

Earlier in today’s stage, two breakaways by two different groups were eventually reeled in and absorbed by the peloton despite some tense moments.

With yellow jersey wearer Igor Gonzalez de Galdaeno taking a quick break to answer the call of nature, the Domo team began an attack to try and pull back the second breakaway, and drew the wrath of both the ONCE and US Postal teams for the breach of etiquette. At one stage, the ONCE and Lotto team riders argued over who should lead the eventual attempt to lead the attack. The breakaway was eventually drawn in with 14 kilometres to ride and the hectic period of jockeying for position began, with Zabel and his Telekom team-mates emerging with the honours. De Galdaeno did enough to ensure he will wear the yellow jersey again tomorrow, Christophe Mengin has the polka-dot climber’s jersey with the toughest ascents still looming, and Isidro Nozal leads the young brigade in the white jersey. Less happy with the way his day ended was Alessio’s Alexandre Shefer, from Kazakhstan, who was rushed to hospital by ambulance after a bad fall 29km from the finish.