体坛英语新闻：Ricco soars high for 2nd stage win

BEIJING, July 14 -- Italian Riccardo Ricco paraded his climbing skills with a stunning attack on the first mountain test of the Tour de France Sunday to claim his second stage victory.

    The Giro d'Italia runner-up dropped the race favorites on the ascent of the category-one Col d'Aspin on the ninth stage with a sudden burst of speed 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 favorites' group.

Riccardo Ricco of Italy reacts as he crosses the finish line to win the ninth stage of the Tour de France cycling race between Toulouse and Bagneres-de-Bigorre, southern France, Sunday July 13, 2008

    Australian Cadel Evans, widely seen as the overall favorite, 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 race doctor Gerard Porte.

    Moments after mopping up Evans' cuts, Porte treated another Tour contender, Alejandro Valverde, who still has cuts and bruises down his right side after falling in the fifth stage.

    Porte sprayed the Spaniard's right calf for a few seconds as he also pulled up alongside the doctor's car.

    Evans remains second in the overall standings six seconds behind yellow jersey holder Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg. American Chris Vande Velde of the Garmin-Chipotle team is third, 44 seconds behind.

    "Cadel had a heavy fall, that's what I know," said Silence-Lotto's sports director Hendrik Redant.

    "He's lost skin on his elbow and has torn his shorts and jersey but when he came past the team car, he didn't have anything to say.

    "He appeared calm and we'll just get to the end of the stage and have a consultation with the team's medical staff."

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

    Three men took their chance after just 22 kilometers of 224-km stage from Toulouse to Bagneres-de-Bigorre.

    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 the 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 Oscar Freire were discarded and regrouped to climb at their own pace.

    Dubbed "The Cobra", 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 four km from the summit, 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.

    It was the Caisse d'Epargne team which then worked to reduce the arrears with Evans content to follow the pace.

    Kirchen was spotted struggling at the heart of the favorites' bunch but held on.

    The Team Columbia rider is expected to suffer today during the 10th stage over 158 km from Pau to Hautacam with two out-of-category climbs on the menu.

    The ninth stage took the 170 riders along seven climbs.

    The Tour ends on July 27.