Hamilton produces breakaway to win

American cyclist Tyler Hamilton produced the biggest successful solo breakaway of the centenary Tour de France to secure a remarkable win in the 16th stage yesterday.

Hamilton had been racing with a broken collarbone since being caught up in a pile-up at the end of the first stage on July 6 but had not shirked even the toughest climbs in the Alps and Pyrenees.

The victory means Hamilton, who had tearfully informed journalists he was out of the race after that crash only to reconsider just 45 minutes before the start of the second stage, now lies sixth overall, some 6min 35sec behind race leader Lance Armstrong.

“After stage one I thought I could not manage it,” said Hamilton. “Then I thought I would keep going to the team time-trial to help out my team-mates.

“After that I felt better and better and kept going and finally I felt I could go on and finish the Tour.”

Armstrong remains in the leader‘s yellow jersey with a 1:07 lead over his closest challenger Jan Ullrich with neither man making a significant move on Wednesday.