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TOUR DE FRANCE

TOUR DE FRANCE 2013

Tour de France: Greipel takes stage 6

German rider Andre Greipel out-sprinted rivals including Britain's Cavendish to win stage 6 of the Tour de France on Thursday. History was also made when Daryl Impey, an Orica-GreenEdge rider, became the first South African to ever wear the yellow jersey.

Published: 4 July 2013 17:25 CEST
Tour de France: Greipel takes stage 6
Photo: Le Tour de France

Greipel dominated a bunch sprint to win the sixth stage of the race, held over 176.5 km between Aix-en-Provence and Montpellier, ahead of Slovakian Peter Sagan and Britain's Mark Cavendish.

But the real story of the day was Daryl Impey, who made Tour de France history on Thursday by becoming the first African to take possession of the yellow jersey.

Impey, a South African, took over the race lead from Australian teammate Simon Gerrans.

"I'm really proud to be the first South African and the first African to wear the yellow jersey," said Impey, who had been in second place overall since Orica-GreenEdge's triumph in the team time trial on stage four.

"Sometimes all the stars line up for you and this is definitely one of those moments. To wear the yellow jersey at the 100th edition of the Tour de France is just a dream come true.

"History has been made and I'm really excited. I'm sure a lot of people back in South Africa are really happy.

"To be able to say I wore the yellow jersey for just one day is something I will treasure forever."

Britain's Cavendish, who claimed his maiden win of the 100th edition and 24th of his Tour de France career on Wednesday, finished fourth after having crashed with 34 km to race and having battled to rejoin the peloton.

"It was a very nervous stage but I knew if we kept it together we could win this stage," said Greipel, one of several sprinters out to grab a share of the glory normally enjoyed by Cavendish.

Impey, whose career was revived when he joined Orica on their inception in 2011 following an aborted move to the now-defunct Pegasus team, leads Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen of Sky by 3secs with Gerrans third overall at 5.

Another Orica rider, Swiss Michael Albasini, is fourth on the same time while Poland's Michal Kwiatkowski, who is wearing the white jersey for the race's best-placed rider aged 25 or under, is fifth at 6secs. Britain's Chris Froome, who is the favourite to win this year's race, remains eight seconds behind Impey and the yellow jersey.

The peloton now moves on to the Pyrenées which will provide  the first real test of this year's Tour de France.

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TOUR DE FRANCE 2013

Froome crowned Tour de France winner in Paris

Chris Froome was crowned winner of the 2013 Tour de France on Sunday as the 100th edition of the race drew to a close on the famous Champs-Elysees in Paris.

Published: 21 July 2013 22:44 CEST
Froome crowned Tour de France winner in Paris
Chris Froome clad in the yellow jersey that he has made his own. Photo: Pascal Guyot/AFP

Britain's Chris Froome was crowned champion of the 100th edition of the Tour de France as Germany's Marcel Kittel powered his way to his fourth win on the 21st and final stage on Sunday.

Team Sky's Froome, the winner of three stages in this edition, claimed his aiden yellow jersey with a winning margin of 4min 20sec on second-placed Colombian Nairo Quintana of Movistar.

"I think it's going to take a while to sink in," said a triumphant Froome, who succeeded teammate and compatriot Bradley Wiggins, absent this year, as
the yellow jersey champion.

"It's really has been a special edition of the Tour de France this year. Every day I woke up knowing I faced a fresh challenge… and I have to thank all my teammates for helping me achieve this dream."

Race debutant Quintana, who moved up to second place thanks to his maiden stage win at the summit finish of Annecy-Semnoz on Saturday, secured the race's white jersey for the best young rider and the best climber's polka dot jersey.

He was joined on the podium by Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), third at 5:04 and one place ahead of former two-time winner Alberto Contador of Spain, who slipped to fourth on Saturday's penultimate stage.

Slovakian Peter Sagan of Cannondale won the points competition's green jersey for the second successive year with a tally of 409 points and a 97-point lead on former winner Mark Cavendish of Britain.

Argos sprinter Kittel ended Cavendish's hopes of a fifth consecutive win on the Champs Elysees when he outsprinted the Omega-Pharma sprinter and German Andre Greipel of Lotto in a thrilling dash for the line.

Greipel, the winner of one stage, finished second with Cavendish, a close third.

It left Kittel, with four stage wins, as the top sprinter of this year's race and allowed the German to close the race as he opened it having won the opening stage from Porto Vecchio to Bastia.

"Four! I can't believe it," said Kittel. "It was a dream of mine to win on the Champs Elysees and now I've done it. I'm so proud."

Froome began the final stage with a lead of 5:03 on Quintana — the largest margin since disgraced American Lance Armstrong claimed his sixth win in 2004 with a lead of six minutes on German Andreas Kloden.

However, the Briton, who was unchallenged on a final stage which is traditionally contested by the sprinters, lost time to the Colombian in the final, frantic laps of a packed-out circuit in the French capital.

Froome thus becomes the second successive Briton to win the race after teammate and compatriot Bradley Wiggins, who made history as Britain's first winner in 2012, when Froome finished runner-up.

The 28-year-old Froome, born in Nairobi, won three stages on this year's race — two on mountaintop finishes and one time trial — to take his tally to
four.

His performances on this year's race, the first since the downfall of Armstrong, raised eyebrows among sceptics.

Team Sky chief Dave Brailsford, however, maintained that Froome and his team are clean and that in the Kenyan-born Briton, the sport is in "safe hands".

"Chris really deserved this win, he worked so hard for it," said Brailsford, who helped orchestrate British track cycling's rise to world and Olympic domination in the past decade before turning his sights on road racing.    

"If you look at the future of cycling, I think in a rider like Chris the sports is in safe hands. There are no doubts about our team, no doubts whatsoever."

   

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