stage 6 synopsis

196 km Boonen wins.
195 km Voigt crashes, bunch sprint.
194 km Flecha is caught with two kilometers to go.
193 km Three kilometers to go. Dekker punctures.
191 km Five kilometers to go, the peloton is right behind the leaders. Flecha goes solo.
186 km 10 kilometers to go. Less than one minute between the four leaders and the peloton.
181 km 15 kilometers to go. The leaders try to drive hard towards the finish, but it's going to be difficult.
175 km Arvesen and Bertolini are back in the peloton.
170 km Arvesen and Bertolini are dropped in the lead group.
168 km Engoulvent tries to escape from the lead group just before the last intermediate sprint, which he wins ahead of Da Cruz.
160 km The leaders approach the last intermediate sprint, and it will be very difficult to keep the peloton behind them.
148 km Less than 50 kilometers to go, and the peloton is about to close the gap.
140 km The sprinter's teams are driving very hard in the peloton right now.
132 km Da Cruz wins the second intermediate sprint ahead of Arvesen.
130 km The escapees increase their advantage on the peloton, as they approach the second intermediate sprint.
120 km Robbie McEwen had to "go to the toilet", but he is already back in the peloton.
118 km No changes in the race situation. The peloton seems to have things under control.
105 km The six leaders now have less than four minutes on the peloton, which is still being lead by Lotto-Domo, Quick Step and Brioches La Boulangére.
98 km Lotto-Domo, Quick Step and Brioches La Boulangére lead the peloton.
92 km The peloton is at the feedzone.
80 km "It's obviously great that we once again have a rider in the major break, but today's gonna be much more difficult than yesterday. Kurt is feeling good and the finish should suit him well," says Team CSC sports director Kim Andersen.
78 km Quick Step and Brioches La Boulangére lead the peloton.
62 km Still Brioches La Boulangére leading the peloton.
52 km Carlos Da Cruz won the first intermediate sprint ahead of Bertolini and Arvesen.
50 km The six leaders approach the first intermediate sprint.
42 km The leaders increase their advantage on the peloton.
35 km Brioches La Boulangére leads the peloton.
32 km The six escapees are not allowed to get away without a fight, after five kilometers in the lead, they only have 35 seconds on the peloton.
31 km We await the next time check. In the meantime we can inform you that Arvesen is best placed rider in the GC of the six escapees, but he is 10.39 behind Thomas Voeckler.
26 km Team CSC's Kurt-Asle Arvesen joins the five leaders, meanwhile there is another crash in the peloton, involving Merckx, Casar and Dufaux. They all seem to be OK.
24 km Three riders have escaped. They are joined by two other riders.
22 km After the crash the peloton is taking it easy.
18 km Armstrong is back in the peloton.
16 km Armstrong was also involved in the crash, but he should be OK and back on his bike.
15 km Crash in the peloton. Riders from Gerolsteiner, Domina Vacanze, Fdjeux.com and Lotto-Domo were involved.
12 km Janek Tombak tries to escape, but he is also caught by the peloton.
10 km Six new riders try their luck, but the peloton reacts swiftly.
8 km Team CSC's Michele Bartoli and two other riders escape, but they are also reeled in very quickly.
5 km A big group with, among others, Team CSC's Jens Voigt has escaped, but they were soon caught by the peloton.
2 km Yuri Krivtsov tried to escape, but he has been caught.
1 km Stage 6 has started. It is raining at the moment, but the weatherforecast predicts only a few showers today.
0 km The two Italian sprinters, Alessandro Petacchi and Mario Cipollini, have abandoned the race before the start of today's stage. Petacchi injured his shoulder in a crash during yesterday's stage 5.