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Stage 6, July 7, Troyes - Nancy
Yet another sprinter's day, this one with a bit of a shakeup at the end, thanks to the rain that poured throughout the entire stage. As normal, there was a breakaway almost from the start. When it looked like it was going to be caught, Christophe Mengin, who lives in/very near Nancy, the finishing town, took a flyer on his own, looking for glory in his hometown. Just before the end, with Mengin still just barely away, Vinokourov, the Kazakh and threat to Lance, attacked off the front of the field, and got a small gap as he chased Mengin. Mengin stayed away until about 2km from the end, when he slid coming around a corner and went down, hitting the railing as he fell. Ouch. A couple of seconds behind him, the the rest of the field came around the corner and almost all of the sprinters slid out around the corner into the hay bales that guarded the outside edge. With Mengin out and the field in complete shambles and Vinokourov slowing to avoid Mengin, Lorenzo Bernucci of the Fassa Bortolo team jumped off the front, surging across the line to take the win. It was his first victory as a professional (he turned pro in 2002), and this was his first Tour de France. Vino held off the rest of the field to take second and gain a 12 second bonus for his second place, bringing him to within 1.02 of Lance Armstrong.
Vino is looking to be a serious threat to Lance Armstrong. Like I said, the man won't hesitate to attack. I can't wait to see what happens in the mountains.
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"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
--Plato
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