Cycling: Cobra pounces

Ricco: earned victory with late surge

The course suited my qualities.

Riccardo Ricco
Quotes of the week

Riccardo Ricco of Saunier Duval stormed to an impressive stage six victory in the Tour de France.

The Italian, nicknamed 'the cobra', made his move near the end of the final ascent of the 195.5-kilometre run from Aigurande to Super-Besse, which finished with the second category two climb of the day.

Ricco's late surge took him across the line one second ahead of Caisse D'Epargne's Alejandro Valverde, with Cadel Evans of Silence-Lotto third in the same time.

"I came on the Tour to win a stage and I achieved my goal as early as the sixth stage," said Ricco.

"Now I'll take the race day by day. I don't want to think about the overall victory, especially after all the pressure I had on the Giro (where he finished second last month).

"I've been in great shape since the start of the Tour and that's why I was able to announce I would win here in Super-Besse. The course suited my qualities.

"But obviously, this win gives me a lot of confidence for the mountain stages to come in the Pyrenees and the Alps."

Kim Kirchen of Team Columbia took the overall lead from Stefan Schumacher, who crashed after clipping Kirchen's wheel some 500 metres from the finish line.

Kirchen finished fifth on the stage, four seconds adrift of Ricco, and now holds a six-second advantage over Evans in the general classification.

Britain's David Millar of Garmin Chipotle finished 51 seconds behind Ricco in 59th, drops two places to fifth position in the overall standings, 47 seconds back from Kirchen.

Stage six result:
1. Riccardo Ricco (Italy/Saunier Duval) 4 hrs 57 mins 52 secs
2. Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Caisse d'Epargne) +1 secs
3. Cadel Evans (Australia/Silence-Lotto) same time
4. Frank Schleck (Luxembourg/Team CSC) +4"
5. Kim Kirchen (Luxembourg/Columbia) same time
6. Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic/Liquigas) +7"
7. Moises Duenas Nevado (Spain/Barloworld)
8. Carlos Sastre (Spain/Team CSC)
9. Denis Menchov (Russia/Rabobank)
10. Leonardo Piepoli (Italy/Saunier Duval) all the same time

Overall standings
1. Kim Kirchen (Luxembourg/Columbia) 24 hrs 30 mins 41 secs
2. Cadel Evans (Australia/Silence-Lotto) +6 secs
3. Stefan Schumacher (Germany/Gerolsteiner) +16"
4. Christian Vandevelde (US/Garmin-Chipotle) +44"
5. David Millar (Britain/Garmin-Chipotle) +47"
6. Thomas Lovkvist (Sweden/Columbia) +54"
7. Denis Menchov (Russia/Rabobank) +1:03"
8. Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Caisse d'Epargne) +1:12"
9. Stijn Devolder (Belgium/Quick-Step) +1:21"
10. Oscar Pereiro (Spain/Caisse d'Epargne) same time