STAGE 9

JULIEN PRETOT
BAGNERES DE BIGORRE

Riccardo Ricco of Italy paraded his climbing skills with a brilliant attack on the first mountain test of the Tour de France yesterday to claim his second stage victory.

The Giro d'Italia runner-up dropped the race favourites on the ascent of the category-one Col d'Aspin on the ninth stage and never looked back.

A winner in an uphill finish on the sixth stage, Saunier-Duval's Ricco beat Russian Vladimir Efimkin, the AG2r-La Mondiale rider crossing the line one minute four seconds later. France's Cyril Dessel, also of AG2r-La Mondiale, was third, 13 seconds behind, after winning the sprint of the favourites' group.

"This victory means much more to me than the first one because it was a real mountain stage," said Ricco, who now is 21st overall, 2:35 adrift of Luxembourg's Kim Kirchen.

Australian Cadel Evans, widely seen as the overall favourite, crashed midway through the stage and sustained bruises on his left knee, elbow and thigh.

"We are not worried from a medical point of view. There will just be the usual effects of a crash," said Gerard Porte, the race doctor.

Evans remains second in the overall standings six seconds behind Kirchen, who also took the green jersey for sprinters from Spain's Oscar Freire.

American Chris Vande Velde of the Garmin-Chipotle team is third overall, 44 seconds behind.

Team Columbia's Thomas Lovkvist of Sweden suffered in the climbs and lost his white jersey for the best young rider to Luxembourg's Andy Schleck, 12th overall.

Although he is still not favourite to win in Paris, Ricco showed that in a race without an overwhelming figure, he could shake the hierarchy and be a permanent threat.

"It was important for me to win another stage," said Ricco. "I'm very happy. There are no doubts about my form, I'm happy about the victory. I didn't think I'd win like that in a stage of this kind. I want to thank all my team."

Three men took their chance after just 22km of 224-km stage. Aleksandr Kuschynski of Belarus, German Sebastian Lang and France's Nicolas Jalabert built a 14-minute gap but it was down to 10 minutes at foot of the category-one Col de Peyresourde.

Jalabert was the first to be dropped, soon followed by Kuschynski and it was Lang who reached the summit first with an advantage of 5:25.

In the peloton, struggling sprinters such as Robbie McEwen, Mark Cavendish and Freire were discarded and regrouped to climb at their own pace. Cavendish finished down in 150th, while Scotland's David Millar was 55th.

Ricco was the first big name to shake up the peloton on the Col d'Aspin but Evans's Silence-Lotto team also stepped up a gear to catch the climber.

Ricco, however, was at it again as the summit loomed, firing clear of the bunch in a style reminiscent of the late Marco Pantani, his idol.

The 24-year-old quickly had Lang in his sight and went in front at the top with a 75-second advantage over the peloton with 26km to go.

Kirchen was spotted struggling at the heart of the favourites' bunch but held on. The Team Columbia rider is expected to suffer today during the 10th stage over 156km from Pau to Hautacam with two out-of-category climbs on the menu.

"In these races, you often have a bad day, I think mine came today," said Kirchen. "Tomorrow will be a different race."

Bob Stapleton, manager of Kirchen's Team Columbia, said: "In Sunday's stage, it was more a matter for the big favourites to turn their fingers in the wounds of their rivals to see if it hurt. The first big moment of truth is Hautacam.

"The Tour is a war of attrition with some big battles and Hautacam is the first one of them. Tomorrow is the day we'll know what Kim is capable of."