Race leader Lars Boom kept his Gold jersey with victory in the fifth stage of the Tour Of Britain this afternoon.
The race had moved to Somerset and started in Taunton. As they approached the first sprint of the day, there was a big crash which saw Ian Bibby, who had been sixth on GC, taken to hospital.
Lars Boom won that opening sprint before Jon Tiernan-Locke was first for the opening King Of The Mountains climb.
Team Sky's Ben Swift was part of the attackers and they got some forty seconds clear before the feed station.
Swift was dropped by the time, Mark McNally took the second sprint and was firmly back in a Rabobank led peloton by the time Lars Bak took the second KOM climb.
Lars Boom had got himself into a front group of riders and he was first over the line in Wells to take the victory.
1 Lars Boom (Ned, Rabobank) 03:19:02
2 Alexandre Pichot (Fra, Team Europcar) st
3 Leopold Koenig (Ger, Team NetApp) st
4 Jan Barta (Cze, Team NetApp) st
5 Steve Cummings (GB, Sky ProCycling st
6 Linus Gerdemann (Ger, Leopard Trek) st
7 Jack Bauer (NZ, Endura Racing) st
8 Julian Dean (NZ, Garmin - Cervelo) st
9 Bartosz Huzarski (Pol, Team NetApp) st
10 Iker Camano (Spa, Endura Racing) st
Overall General Classification, after Stage Six
1 Lars Boom (Ned, Rabobank) 20:13:18
2 Leopold Koenig (Ger, Team NetApp) @ 0:28
3 Daniel Lloyd (GB, Garmin - Cervelo) @ 0:29
4 Linus Gerdemann (Ger, Leopard Trek) @ 0:31
5 Steve Cummings (GB, Sky ProCycling) @ 0:32
6 Jelle Wallays (Bel, Topsport Vlaanderen) st
7 Jan Barta Team NetApp st
8 Jonathan Tiernan Locke Rapha Condor Sharp st
9 Iker Camano Endura Racing @ 0:50
10 Joost Posthuma Leopard Trek @ 0:52
The Prostate Cancer Charity Points Classification, after Stage Six
1 Lars Boom (Ned, Rabobank) 52pts
2 Geraint Thomas (GB, Sky ProCycling) 41pts
3 Mark Cavendish (GB, HTC Highroad) 40pts
4 Mark Renshaw (Aus, HTC Highroad) 29pts
Skoda King of the Mountains Classification, after Stage Six
1 Jonathan Tiernan Locke (GB, Rapha Condor Sharp) 71pts
2 Russell Hampton (GB, Sigma Sport Specialized) 48pts
3 Steve Cummings (GB, Sky ProCycling) 30pts
4 Linus Gerdemann (Ger, Leopard Trek) 28pts
5 Thomas De Gendt (Bel, Vacansoleil - DCM) 25pts
Yodel Sprints Classification, after Stage Six
1 Pieter Ghyllebert (Bel, AN Post - Sean Kelly 36pts
2 Russell Hampton (GB, Sigma Sport - Specialized) 13pts
3 Lars Boom (Ned, Rabobank) 11pts
4 Mark McNally (GB, AN Post - Sean Kelly) 10pts
5 Andrew Fenn (GB, AN Post - Sean Kelly) 10pts
UNISON Best Young Rider
1 Jelle Wallays (Bel, Topsport Vlaanderen) 20:13:50
Stage Six Combativity Award: Jamie Sparling (Can, Team Raleigh)
Brief Quotes - Lars Boom, Stage Six winner & IG Markets Gold Jersey
“It was a difficult stage; there were four guys, one was at 48 seconds, so we kept close to them. My guys worked really hard, they are so strong, I am really thankful. They worked so hard for me today, and for the rest of the last climb there were attacks from other riders and there was a small group going.
“In the last 20 kilometres there were attacks for the points at the King of the Mountains, and some attacks from (Steve) Cummings and (Michael) Rogers. They went pretty hard I think, but I could keep the wheel and it was okay. After that there were a lot of guys for Garmin, and a lot of other guys that were pulling for the GC guys. I made an advantage of that and I’m really happy with the win.”
On whether the first passage of the line, the Yodel Sprint, helped his finish…
“Yeah we did it of course, we passed the finish one time so I saw the last corner and that it was the last 200m to go afterwards. Gabriel Rasch and Julian Dean went too hard in the last corner, and I took the corner perfectly I think, and from there nobody else was going to win.”
On the Somerset support…
“It’s quite big support in UK I think, and that’s really nice of course to have such big support for the whole stage."
On his prospects of retaining the IG Markets Gold Jersey…
“My team mates are very strong and are going to work tomorrow, maybe with some of the sprinters teams. I am confident for the time trial – that is one of my favourite disciplines, so I am confident. But anything can happen, so I will try my best tomorrow. We will be alright I think.”