Italian cyclist Lorenzo Bernucci has won the sixth stage of the Tour de France, while six-time champion Lance Armstrong of the United States retained his overall lead.
Bernucci finished the rain-soaked, crash-marred 199 km ride in 4:12:52 for an average speed of more than 47 kph.
Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan finished second with the same time while Robert Förster of Germany was third, 0:07 seconds behind the winner.
Armstrong finished in 32nd place. Vinokourov managed to escape crashing into French rider Christophe Mengin, who had fallen in a right-hand turn near the finish.
At least four other riders were taken down in a pile-up as they tried to avoid Mengin. Armstrong leads countryman George Hincapie by 0:55 seconds. Vinokourov is in third place overall, 1:02 behind Armstrong.
Organizers originally had the Kazakh rider in second place, but later corrected themselves.
Friday's seventh stage carries the Tour into Germany, covering 228.5 km from Lunéville to Karlsruhe. The race ends July 24 in Paris.
Some information for this report provided by AP.
