Overall leader Tony Martin pulls out of Tour, Chris Froome leads
ByReuters
Updated 09/07/2015 at 19:30 GMT
Tour de France overall leader Tony Martin of Germany abandoned the race after breaking a collarbone in a crash on Thursday, his Etixx-Quick Step team said.
Germany's Tony Martin, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, sits on the ground after a fall as Poland's Michal Kwiatkowski looks at him (R), during the 191.5 km sixth stage of the 102nd edition of the Tour de France cycling race on July 9, 2015, be
Image credit: AFP
"He abandons," an Etixx-Quick Step spokesman said of the German.
Briton Chris Froome, Team Sky's 2013 Tour winner, will take over as race leader going into Friday's seventh stage, a 190.5 km ride from Livarot to Fougeres.
He leads American Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) by 13 seconds.
After a few days of crashes and nervous racing the peloton took it relatively easy on the Normandy coastline until the last kilometre when Martin lost his balance and several leading contenders followed him down.
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Tony Martin injured after a fall during Stage 6
Image credit: Imago
Among the casualties were Italian Nibali, Colombian Nairo Quintana and van Garderen as Martin's team mate, Zdenek Stybar of the Czech Republic, sprinted to victory in the 191.5-km leg from Abbeville to Le Havre.
Nibali had bruises on his knee while Quintana had blood on his arm.
Quintana's Movistar team mate Alejandro Valverde also crashed earlier in the stage, hurting his leg and buttocks. Both will continue the race, the team said.
Slovakian Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) was second in the stage and France's Bryan Coquard (Europcar) took third place.
Regulations state that on a flat stage a rider held up in an incident in the final three km is credited with the same time as the winner.
That meant Martin retained the overall lead, until he withdrew, after being pushed by two team mates to the finish line.
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Polish world champion Michael Kwiatkowski and Belgian Julian Vermote assist the injured Tony Martin
Image credit: Imago
"I was unlucky. I don't even remember how I went down. I touched the rear wheel of the rider in front of me (Coquard) but it's the Tour, luck and bad luck are always close," Martin told reporters.
Swiss Fabian Cancellara, who held the overall leader's yellow jersey earlier in the event, had to pull out because of a back injury after crashing on Monday.
Froome narrowly escaped Thursday's carnage, managing to keep his balance while Nibali leaned on him as he fell.
Spain's Alberto Contador (Tinkoff Saxo) is seventh, 36 seconds behind, while Nibali (Astana) is 12th and 1:38 adrift. Quintana lies 17th, 1:56 off the pace.
"I don't know why this happened like this 500 metres from the line. I'm ok, my shoulder and my leg touched the ground," said Nibali.
Daniel Teklehaimanot became the first African to wear the polka dot jersey for the mountains classification after the MTN-Qhubeka rider grabbed precious points in the three minor climbs of the day.
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