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Tour de France - Semur-en-Auxois - Bourg-en-Bresse

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  1. 0km - Boonen has it!!! He ends his dry spell, Oscar Freire is second and Erik Zabel third!

  2. 0.3km - Boonen is coming through on the outside, he has to go round a Gerolstiner rider, McEwen is moving through the middle.

  3. 0.7km - Flecha brings them through the final 700 metres.

  4. 1km - Christian Knees moves aside with 1000 metres to go!!

  5. 2km - Matteo Tossato now gives way to Credit Agricole.

  6. 2.5km - Quickstep bring them through the final 2.5km

  7. 3km - Bradley Wiggins has gone straight out the back of the peloton. He's exhausted.

  8. 3.6km - The Quickstep train is moving to the front. Can Tom Boonen finally end his drought.

  9. 5km - Swathes of green Liquigas shirts are moving to the fore on thr right hand side, perhaps preparing to launch Pippo Pozzato again.

  10. 5.8km - Juan Antonio Flecha moves to the front now for Oscar Freire.

  11. 6.2km - Bradley Wiggins is swallowed up by the pack. His long day out in front is over.

  12. 8km - The sprinters teams are jostling for position now at the front of the pack. The Astana team are still towards the rear of the peloton. The camera has just focused on Vino, who made a sign as if to show he is spent.

  13. 12km - The pack have Wiggins in their sights now along this long, straight road.

  14. 15km - 1'00" is the gap with 15 kilometres remaining.

  15. 20km - 1'40" the gap as they go under the 20km barrier.

  16. 22km - Wiggins is still toiling away on his own out in front, though the rest are just biding their time with him.

  17. 24km - The CSC team are moving to the fore on the left hand side of the peloton. They are highly distinguishable as they are wearing fluorescent yellow numbers becuase they are also highest in the team classification thanks to Astana's bad day yesterday.

  18. 27km - Euskaltel and Ag2r are not known as sprinters teams, but theyu ahve not had a single rider in the top 10 of any stage so far in the Tour. Can they change that today?

  19. 30km - It's Credit Agricole and the Quickstep boys who are pulling the peloton along.

  20. 32km - Wiggins' time out in front is coming to an end. 2'00" is his lead now.

  21. 35km - But no, Boonen doesn't go for it! Steven de Jongh takes the four points, followed by Gert Steegmans. It was clearly a bluff, though Erik Zabel didn't fall for it.

  22. 36km - The QuickStep team move to the front of the peloton ahead of the final intermediate sprint. They're preparing to launch Boonen...

  23. 36km - The gap has dropped to 3 minutes with 36 kilometres remaining.

  24. 40km - Fabian Cancellara's achievement of preserving his yellow jersey since the prologue is made all the moe impressive when you bear in mind the number of days that the race leader after the first day kept the jersey in the past. Number of days the race leader after first day has held onto yellow jersey: 2000, 3; 2001, 2; 2002, 0; 2003, 2; 2004, 2; 2005, 3; 2006, 2.

  25. 44km - The sprinters teams and CSC are both content to keep Wiggins on a manageable leash. They don't want any more attacks coming. 3'40" is their deficit.

  26. 49km - Bradley Wiggins suffers a puncture! He hurls his wheel into the grass bank on the side of the road, waits for his mehanic to put another wheel on, then is swiftly on his way again.

  27. 50km - The gap between Wiggins and the peloton is exactly 5'00" with 50 kilometres to go.

  28. 58km - It took Wiggins 7'10" to reach the top of the Col de Brancion, while the peloton needed 6'45". Wiggins picked up the three points for the first man over the summit, while Juan Manuel Garate edged out Sylvain Chavanel for the two points.

  29. 63km - Wiggins has clearly put the hammer down again. He has stretched out his lead from 3'30" up to 5'20"

  30. 65km - Kloeden is right at the back of the peloton and looking pretty uncomfortable.

  31. 70km - The peloton was exactly 3'30" behind Wiggins going through that sprint.

  32. 71km - Erik Zabel and Tom Boonen both sprint for the remaining 4 points and 4 bonus seconds at the second intermedite sprint in Cormatin, and it's the Belgian who gets there first.

  33. 77km - Tour de France organisers have decided to strip Erik Zabel of the green jersey he won at the 1996 Tour de France. The German, then riding for the Telekom team, admitted to using EPO in that year.

  34. 79km - KLÖDEN IS IN TROUBLE! He has been dropped by the peloton. His team-mate Gregory Rast is trying to tow him back.

  35. 80km - Francis Van Londersele (Cofidis sporting director): "Bradley said this morning that he would try something, but the plan was that it would be as part of a group of riders. Sylvain Chavanel has recovered well frmo his two breakaways. Our objective is to fight for the stage win. Having the polkadot jersey is also good."

  36. 82km - 5'52" now the gap in a quiet day's racing so far.

  37. 89km - The peloton continues to gradually eat into Wiggins' lead. 6'50" now the gap.

  38. 93km - Barloworld's Enrico Degano has pulled out after his fall in the feeding zone.

  39. 96km - Astana general manager Marc Biver: "Klöden has suffered more in terms of his confidence, while Vino has suffered more physically. Andreas was already stung by criticisms in the German press. The fall has certainly not helped him. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't finish the Tour. If there are significant time losses in the Alps then we will probably rethink our strategy."

  40. 103km - Enrico Degano of the Barloworld team has hit the deck! He's being helped up by his sporting director.

  41. 105km - The Astana team are riding in a circle around their two leaders Alex Vinokourov and Andreas Kloeden toward the rear of the peloton. The Kazakh outfit also sacked Matthias Kessler today after his positive test for testosterone was confirmed.

  42. 110km - Wiggins passes through the feeding zone with a lead of just over 10 minutes on the chasing pack.

  43. 112km - Bradley's lead continues to tumble. 12'00" is the latest split.

  44. 120km - The CSC, Quickstep and Cofidis teams are doing the work on the front of the peloton. The gap has fallen now to 15'20".

  45. 125km - Average speed over second hour of racing: 36km/h.36,800km/h.

  46. 132km - Cancellara changes his bike again. The peloton is still 17'15" back from Wiggins. Meanwhile, Sylvain Chavanel was second over the top of the Cote de Grandmont, with Juan Manuel Garate in third.

  47. 136km - Cancellara has fallen at the top of the Grandmont, but it's not a serious one. He has changed bikes, but with his time-trialling ability should have no problem getting back to the peloton.

  48. 138km - With those four points, Boonen now gets back onto level terms with Zabel in the fight for the green jersey.

  49. 139km - 1st Sprint (part 2): It's Tom Boonen who picks up the four points for crossing the line second, with Robbie Hunter in third (2 pts).

  50. 143km - The peloton ups the tempo to swallow up McEwen.

  51. 144km - Wiggins takes the three mountain points atop the Côte de Grandmont.

  52. 144km - Wiggins is now a full 17'20" ahead of the pack, while Robbie McEwen launches a short burst to try and pick up some points at the sprint.

  53. 148km - 1st Intermediate Sprint (Bligny): Wiggins takes the six points and six bonnus seconds. We'll have to wait another fourteen minutes for the peloton to arrive to see who picks up the remaining points.

  54. 152km - Average speed over the first hour of racing: 37.6km/h.

  55. 155km - The peloton is making its way serenely through the Bourgogne region, while Wiggins toils further up the road. He has extended his lead to 12'00".

  56. 165km - Our best wishes go out to Francaise des Jeux's Sebastien Joly, who we have just learnt has testicular cancer. Lance Armstrong, who also suffered from that form of cancer, has apprently already sent a mail of support to the rider.

  57. 166km - The peloton has arrived into Pouilly-en-Auxois (Km 27,5) with a 9'10" deficit on the Brit out in front.

  58. 171km - Having caught Grivko and in the knowledge that Wiggins isn't known for his stamina, the peloton have eased up a little and the gap has grown to 8'40".

  59. 175km - Grivko is hauled back in by the peloton already, while Wiggins appears to be running out of steam too. His lead has been cut to 6'10".

  60. 178km - Today's stage could get a bit hot. The sun is out, and the temperature at the moment is a sweat-inducing 28°C.

  61. 179km - Cofidis' Geoffroy Lequatre was the only man not on the start line this morning. He fell yesterday, and was unable to continue.

  62. 183km - MJilram's Andriy Grivko fancies a piece of the action too. He sets off in pursuit of Wiggins.

  63. 184km - All of which means that Bradley Wiggins is now in the virtual yellow jersey. he lies 105th in the GC, 5'40" off the pace, though is now 7'40" ahead in today's stage.

  64. 185km - The gap is now up to 6'00"

  65. 193km - Wiggins has extended his lead to 1'30" already. His speed over short distances is serving him well here.

  66. 196km - The attacks are coming early today! Britain's Bradley Wiggins is off after just two kilometres! He has already established a 20-second lead over the field.

  67. 196km - Astana manager Marc Biver when questioned whether he still held hopes of his team winning the Tour: ""I don't think so," he told reporters. "Let's be realistic. Kloeden is not in the best conditions to ride. Nobody can say if they are in a position to finish the Tour, let alone the stage. It does not augur well. That's life, that's sport. There are moments of glory, moments of defeat. We've been struck by fate. Today we hope for better news."

  68. 199km - The start is given on stage six of the Tour de France!

  69. 11:40 - The signal for the roll-away has been given in Semur. We're on schedule for a 11:45 start.

  70. 11:30 - All eyes today, both in the peloton and the media, will be on Astana pair Andreas Kloeden and Alexandre Vinokourov. If they begin to look uncomfortable, then look out for the Caisse d'Epargne and Discovery Channel teams to raise the pace in the peloton.

  71. 11:10 - No change in the young riders classification, where Vladimir Gusev still leads Dutchman Thomas Dekker by 6 seconds.

  72. 11:00 - Sylvain Chavanel's long breakaway yesterday gave him a huge lead in the King of the Mountains classification, though the big points won't be handed out until we hit the Alps on Saturday.

  73. 11:00 - Veteran Milram sprinter Erik Zabel is back in the green jersey, which he has won six times in this race. His fifth-place finish yesterday took him above Tom Boonen in the points classification.

  74. 10:50 - Fabian Cancellara, whose attacking, positive style of riding has been one of the highlights of this Tour so far, leads the general standings by 33 seconds from Astana's Andreas Kloeden. Filippo Pozzato is third, two seconds further back.

  75. 10:50 - Welcome to eurosport.yahoo.com's live text coverage of stage six of the Tour de France, a 199.5 kilometre journey from Semur-en-Auxois to Bourg-en-Bresse.