Columbia Rider Takes Yellow Jersey

Thursday's 6th leg was probably the hardest leg of the Tour de France so far this year. There were two fairly nasty catagory 2 climbs in the last half of the race, with one of them right at the finish. It was looking like Schumacher was going to keep his yellow jersey, until he took a spill about one kilometer from the finish line.

Schumacher was not hurt in the crash, but it cost him enough time to drop him to third place overall. The new leader of the race (and wearer of the yellow jersey) is a rider from America's Team Columbia -- Kim Kirchen. Tomorrow's leg will mark the first time a Team Columbia rider will wear the yellow jersey.

The other American team (Garmin Chipotle) is still in first place in the team competition. Columbia has dropped into third place behind CSC. Here are the current standings:

Yellow Jersey (overall)
1. Kirchen (Columbia)
2. Evans (Lotto)..........00' 06"
3. Schumacher (Gerolsteiner).....00' 16"
4. Vandevelde (Gar. Chipotle).....00' 44"
5. Millar (Gar. Chipotle)..........00' 47"
6. Lovkvist (Columbia)..........00' 54"
7. Menchov (Rabobank)..........01' 03"
8. Valverde (Caisse)..........01' 12"
9. Devolder (Quick Step)..........01' 21"
10. Pereiro (Caisse)..........01' 21"
15. Hincapie (Columbia)..........01' 45"

Green Jersey (sprinters)
1. Kirchen (Columbia).....97 pts
2. Hushovd (Agricole).....88
3. Freire (Rabobank).....85
4. Zabel (Milram).....72
5. Valverde (Caisse).....71

Polka Dot Jersey (climbers)
1. Chavanel (Cofidis).....27 pts
2. Voeckler (Bouygues).....27
3. Ricco (Saunier).....20
4. Valverde (Caisse).....18
5. Evans (Lotto).....16

Team Standings
1. Garmin Chipotle
2. CSC..........00' 19"
3. Columbia..........00' 20"
4. Caisse..........03' 54"
5. Liquigas..........04' 09"