KIRCHEN RIDES GIANT TO THE YELLOW JERSEY!

Team Columbia’s Kim Kirchen has taken over the yellow jersey at the Tour De France. Riding the Giant TCR Advanced SL Bicycle, Kirchen came in fifth in the stage, :04 seconds after stage winner Ricardo Ricco of Saunier Duval.

With 1 KM to go, Gerolsteiner’s Stefan Schumacher, leader of the GC, crashed and went down (after clipping Kirchen’s rear wheel), leaving Kirchen to cross the finish line and make up the :12 second deficit he had behind Shumacher. The “1KM” rule, that ordinarily allows riders who crash within the last kilometer of a finish to be awarded the same time as the rest of the finishers, does NOT apply to mountain top finishers, according to UCI rules. So Kirchen Rides Giant in tomorrow’s stage of the Tour de France in the Yellow Jersey!!!

Kirchen also finished well ahead of his rival for the Points Classification, Thor Hushvold of Credit Agricole. So he’s awarded the Green Jersey again – although he won’t wear that tomorrow, of course. He will be wearing yellow!