Hesjedal loses 13 minutes during stage 6 Tour de France
Crash forces overall contenders out of contention for yellow.
Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) lost roughly 13 minutes after crashing with a large group 20 km to the end of stage six at the Tour de France. The Canadian was placed ninth in the overall classification before the stage and is now sitting 108th, 13:38 minutes behind the race leader Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan).
Garmin-Sharp has several riders wounded after the opening week of the Tour including Tom Danielson, Christian Vande Velde, Dan Martin, David Millar, Johan Vansummeren and Tyler Farrar.
“In cycling, a good team isn’t defined by how perfect it is in winning moments, but instead how it moves forward when all is shit. Onward,” Garmin-Sharp boss Jonathan Vaughters tweeted following the stage.
“Crashes: No one, No thing’s fault; just the combination of high stakes racing for big contracts – and the risk taking that comes with that,” he added.
Other overall contenders caught in the crash included Robert Gesink (Rabobank), Frank Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar). Also in the crash was world champion Mark Cavendish (Sky Procycling).
