Barcelona - Norwegian Thor Hushovd won Thursday's sixth stage of the 2009 Tour de France, bursting out of the pack in a tough uphill sprint to the finish line in the Spanish city of Barcelona. In registering the eighth Tour stage win of his career, the 31-year-old Team Cervelo rider outpaced two Spaniards, Oscar Freire and Jose Joaquin Rojas, disappointing the large crowds who had come out to watch the race.
The overall standings remained largely unchanged, with Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland remaining in first place, a split second ahead of seven-time winner Lance Armstrong, and Spaniard Alberto Contador 19 seconds adrift in third place.
"It's always good to win a stage of the Tour, but this win was one of the best," Hushovd said.
Hushovd's victory was the first on the Tour de France for the newly formed Team Cervelo, which also has one of the race favourites riding in its colours, 2008 Tour winner Carlos Sastre.
Hushovd's time for the 181.5km course from the Spanish city of Gerone to Barcelona was 4 hours 21 minutes 33 seconds, an average speed of 41.64 kph in conditions that were far from ideal because of rain that began to fall when the main pack of riders was about 40km from Barcelona."
"It was a nervous race," Hushovd said. "The roadway was very slippery."
The rain caused a number of crashes in the latter stages of the race, when the pack accelerated to try and catch Briton David Millar, who had broken away on his own with about 29km to go.
The stage, which took place entirely in Spain, was the first of three consecutive stages to start outside of France.
Friday's seventh stage, the first mountain stage of this year's Tour, covers 224km from Barcelona to a grueling mountaintop finish at Andorra Arcalis, with a climb that is rated beyond category in difficulty.
The Tour de France ends July 26 in Paris.
