Zdenek Stybar wins stage 6 of the 2015 Tour de France.(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Tony Martin (Etixx-Quickstep) broke his collarbone in the stage 6 crash while leading the Tour de France(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tony Martin is pushed to the finish by his Etixx-Quickstep teammates
Zdenek Stybar (Etixx-Quickstep)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Calm appeared to have broken out on the sixth day of the Tour de France, as an early break of three riders built a large advantage before the sprinters' teams slowly pulled them back. After five stressful days of racing, the general classification contenders were enjoying their first chance to relax and recharge. But a crash on the uphill finish with 600 metres to go quickly ended that mirage.
Race leader Tony Martin touched wheels with a Europcar rider in front of him and swung violently to his right, taking down Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin), Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Tejay van Garderen (BMC) in succession.
All the riders involved remounted their bikes and finished the stage, although Etixx-QuickStep revealed later that Martin had fractured his clavicle and will not start Friday's stage. Meanwhile, Martin's teammate Zdenek Stybar was up the road soloing to his first-ever Tour de France stage win. It was an emotional day for the Belgian team on both ends of the spectrum.
In this seventh episode of our Tour de France podcast, Cyclingnews European editor Barry Ryan joins news editor Sadhhbh O'Shea to discuss the stage with Stybar.
To subscribe to the Tour de France podcast on iTunes, click here, and go here for our full Tour de France coverage.
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