Burghardt savours sweet revenge on Tour

Enlarge Photo Team Columbia rider Marcus Burghardt of Germany holds up his arms as he wins the... Slideshow: Day in pictures: July 24 08

Thu, Jul 24 09:55 PM

By Julien Pretot

ST ETIENNE, France (Reuters) - 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 196.5-km 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.

Italian Damiano Cunego, who has struggled on this year's race, crashed 20 km 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.

"I hit the pavement and then, I don't even remember how I got back on the bike. It was my decision to continue," said Cunego, who has been taken to St Etienne's hospital for further checks.

Barredo broke away after 70 km 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 35 km 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 spokesman told Reuters by telephone.

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