Zabel's legs stop working

Finishing in 35th place, 15 seconds in arrears of stage winner Oscar Freire, Team Milram's Erik Zabel dropped nine places on the overall classification from second to eleventh, but as a result of Paolo Bettini's abandon, the evergreen German becomes the new points leader by default.

"In the last 500 meters the legs have stopped pushing," said Zabel in a team statement, "and I've arrived [at the finish] with a small gap. Unfortunately, I've not maintained my overall ranking, but I take comfort being the leader in the points classification."

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