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Burghardt savours stage win
24/07/2008 17:59 - (SA)
St Etienne - A year after
crashing into a dog, German Marcus Burghardt powered to his
first Tour de France stage win on Thursday.
The Team Columbia rider, who suffered a spectacular crash
with a Labrador on last year's ninth stage, beat Spaniard Carlos
Barredo in a sprint finish to the 196.5km ride from Bourg
d'Oisans to St Etienne.
France's Romain Feillu came in third at the front of the
chasing group while Spaniard Carlos Sastre of CSC retained the
leader's yellow jersey, finishing safely in the bunch.
The top positions in the overall standings remained
unchanged, with Sastre leading team-mate Frank Schleck of
Luxembourg by one minute and 24 seconds and Austrian Bernhard
Kohl by 1:33.
Australian Cadel Evans, the favourite for Saturday's
decisive time trial, is fourth 1:34 off the pace.
Face a mask of pain
Italian Damiano Cunego, who has been struggling on this
year's race, crashed 20km from the start. After treatment by
the Tour doctor for what appeared to be a chin injury, he got
back on his bike but failed to catch up with the peloton.
Helped by four team-mates, the former Giro d'Italia winner
fell 22 minutes behind, fighting throughout to end the stage
some 20 minutes adrift of Burghardt, his face a mask of pain.
Barredo broke away after 70km at foot of the Col de
Parmenie and was joined by Burghardt.
The pair held off a chasing group of three and as they
approached the finishing line, Burghardt proved the smarter.
Earlier on Thursday, French customs officers stopped and
searched a car driven by Johnny Schleck, the father of riders
Frank and Andy.
Customs officers first stopped a press car with Luxembourg
number plates and searched it 35km into the day's ride.
The customs officers then stopped a second car, driven by
Schleck, and searched it for 30 minutes.
"We were looking for doping substances but the check was
negative so we let him go," a customs spokesperson told Reuters by
telephone.
- Reuters
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