Early in today's 172 km stage 14 cyclists escaped and got a lead on the peloton of almost 17 minutes. At 26 km before the finish two cyclists escaped from the group and stayed away until the finish. Bart Voskamp from The Netherlands won the sprint from Jens Heppner of Germany. However both were disqualified because they violated the sprinting regulations and the stage victory was awarded to Mario Traversoni of Italy who originally was third and arrived 26 seconds behind the two. The number four Van Petegem was also disqualified for the same reason. Voskamp is now tenth with a time that is 26 seconds faster than the winner.
For the third time in a row we had a stage that was difficult to predict. Kees van den Bergh of The Netherlands achieved the highest stage score today. Two people arrived at the second place: Bryce Born (USA) and William Wallace (Canada). With Simon and Traversoni in his team, Kees Winder from The Netherlands was the only player in the top 10 of the overall rankings that took points today. As a result of this Winder takes over the lead from fellow countryman René Leerdam. The distance between the numbers one and two is only 3 points. Dutchman Wim Hoefs follows at 16 points on place three. Tomorrow we will have a time trial and Sunday we will see the final stage which finishes in Paris.
More detailed stage report by Velonews. More detailed stage results by Nando SportServer.
1. 20 Kees van den Bergh (The Netherlands)
2. 18 Bryce Born (USA)
18 William Wallace (Canada)
4. 17 Tom van der Wel (The Netherlands)
5. 16 Team 2000 (UK)
6. 15 Kevin Mathers (USA)
7. 14 Al (USA)
14 Bob Guthrie (USA)
14 Erik Hardiek (The Netherlands)
14 Ian Miller (Malaysia)
14 Marcel Bruins (The Netherlands)
14 Marylou Stumpf (USA)
14 R. Wolf (USA)
14 Randy Brooks (USA; Texas)
14 Reinout Vleugels (Belgium)
16. 13 Arie Hordijk (USA)
13 Diego Vidal (Italy)
13 Eric L. Deardorff (USA)
13 Kees Winder (The Netherlands)
13 Malcolm Foster (USA)
13 Neil Macleod (USA)
13 Peter Lee (USA)
13 René de Haan (The Netherlands)
13 Rhonda Benjamin (Trinidad)
13 Simon Jagers (The Netherlands)
13 Steve Smith (USA)
27. 12 Brent Newton (USA)
12 James Lowe (UK; England)
12 Joriglenigon (Spain)
12 Raymond van Kuijen (The Netherlands)
12 Reinald Huizenga (The Netherlands)
12 Steve Coley (New Zealand)
12 Tony Byrnes (UK)
34. 11 Edouard Moret (France)
11 Marcel Spanjer (The Netherlands)
11 Paul Verheul (The Netherlands)
11 Ron Blancarte (USA)
38. 10 Blake Carr (USA)
10 Dirk de Schrijver (Belgium)
10 Edxwasz (The Netherlands)
10 Fransesco (The Netherlands)
10 Henk Langerak (The Netherlands)
10 HHTX (Spain)
10 Javier Mateos (Spain)
10 Nico Heilig (The Netherlands)
10 Patrick Burger (The Netherlands)
10 Rene Hoogendam (The Netherlands)
10 Stuart Harvey (UK)
10 Thomas Nickel (Germany)
50. 9 Andy Steele (UK; England)
9 B. Elsts (USA)
9 Ivan Peeters (Belgium)
9 Jose Maria Mantero (USA)
9 Lee Rusk (USA)
9 Michael G Andersen (Denmark)
9 Shinichi Ogasawara (Japan)
9 Stefan Kandera (Germany)
9 Stephanie Chiotakis (The Netherlands)
59. 8 Carmen Leerdam (The Netherlands)
8 Duncan Meade (UK; England)
8 Herb Yaptinchay (USA)
8 Jan Høgh (Denmark)
8 Jos van den Dungen (The Netherlands)
8 Marcel Luyckx (The Netherlands)
8 Martin Bolhuis (The Netherlands)
8 Regis (France)
8 Ruud de Wolf (The Netherlands)
8 Tom Dhans (USA)
69. 7 A. Cozijnsen (Australia)
7 Claus W. Freiberg (Denmark)
7 Dick Barnes (Australia)
7 Geert van Offeren (The Netherlands)
7 Guy Collier (UK; England)
7 J.A.E. van der Horst. (The Netherlands)
7 Jack Habets (The Netherlands)
7 Kenneth Lind (Denmark)
7 Klaas Reijne (The Netherlands)
7 Labo Longziekten (Belgium)
7 Mark Legg (USA)
7 Martin Derksema (The Netherlands)
7 Matt Laufersweiler (USA)
7 Nedamco (The Netherlands)
7 Roderick den Daas (The Netherlands)
7 Roger M. Anderson (USA)
7 Stephan Mathieu (The Netherlands)
7 Stephen Tarling (UK)
7 Steven Foree (USA)
7 Steven Wyderko (USA)
89. 6 Christoph Kündig (Canada)
6 Jeff Ronge (The Netherlands)
6 Laurence Frelin (USA)
6 Luisa Baldassari (Australia)
6 Martin Ellfolk (Finland)
6 R. ter Braak (The Netherlands)
6 Rolando Aguilera (Dominican Republic)
6 Romy van Roosmalen (The Netherlands)
6 Walter Lennartz (The Netherlands)
98. 5 Amit Ghosh (Canada)
5 Brian Schiller (USA)
5 David Fink (USA)