Mark Cavendish?s joy after winning the sixth stage of the Tour of California turned to bitter disappointment a few minutes later after the race commissaire?s disqualified him for taking a tow from the High Road team car after he was involved in a crash ten kilometres from the finish.
Cavendish came from behind to win the sprint and described it as one of his best ever wins but then Saunier Duval directeur sportif Matteo Algeri complained to the commissaries and they decided to penalise Cavendish and award the stage victory to Luciano Pagliarini of Saunier Duval who finished second behind Cavendish. JJ Haedo (CSC) was awarded second place and Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) third.
Mario Cipollini was also involved in the crash and like Cavendish he was given a fine and a 20-second time penalty that meant they officially finished 74 and 75th respectively.
Despite a late attack by David Millar (Slipstream), Levi Leipheimer kept his 49-second lead in the overall standings. He has only to defend the yellow jersey during Sunday?s 150km final stage to Pasadena to take his second consecutive victory in the Tour of California. The stage includes the long climb to the 1463m high Millcreek Summit but the climb could be cut due to bad weather.
?I?m tired but we all are. Tomorrow could be a miserable day but I?ve got a team that can respond to any attacks by Millar and Vandevelde,? Leipheimer said.
?Rubiera is riding very strong and can stay with anybody. We?re optimistic that we can control the race lead until Pasadena.?
Results
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