Two days after being relegated for irregular sprinting, Australian champion Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) has bounced back with a victory over main rival Tom Boonen in Montargis. In a tough uphill sprint at the end of another super fast stage, McEwen came off Boonen's wheel with 100 metres to go to win the stage by a wheel, with Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) coming in for third.
There were no changes to the general classification and Lance Armstrong (Discovery Channel) kept his grip on the yellow jersey, even if he didn't want to wear it today out of respect for David Zabriskie, who crashed out of it yesterday.
The 183 km stage was dominated by a four man break containing Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo), who attacked after 28 km and, after a long chase, was joined by Laszlo Bodrogi (Crédit Agricole), Salvatore Commesso (Lampre), and Kjell Carlstrom (Liquigas) after 93 km. The four never managed to lead by much more than four minutes, and the combined power of Discovery Channel, Quick.Step, and Davitamon-Lotto had them back in the fold at 10 km to go. Francaise des Jeux started the sprint for Bernhard Eisel, but the Austrian didn't have the legs to come off Baden Cooke's lead out, and instead it was Boonen going early before McEwen jumped around him to ultimately win.
Also see:
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