Cycle: Concerns for Millar after double crash

Veteran Zabel confirms sprint superiority with victory in sixth stage

Erik Zabel, of Germany, returned to his traditional role as the Tour's strongest sprinter yesterday when he notched up his 11th stage win at a rainsoaked finish in Alençon, while the Briton David Millar raised fears of a possible abandonment after crashing twice.

Appropriately enough for an accident which owed more to misfortune than human error, Millar first took a tumble after 13 kilometres of the stage between Forges-les-Eaux and Alençon in a mass-pile up towards the rear of the peloton. The result was a large amount of swelling, capped by a bruise just underneath his right knee as well as a unpleasant-looking cut on his elbow.

"Some idiots got caught up and we were out of it, but then another group came flying into the back of us," the Scot, who suffered cuts and bruising to his right leg, said after the stage. "I hit the deck and went sliding along. I've got a huge bruise." After visiting the team doctor's car for treatment the Scot battled on, clearly in difficulty but managing to remain in the peloton.

Then, with some 25 kilometres left to race, Millar found himself in trouble again when another rear-end crash split the peloton. After saving himself from falling at the last minute, the Scot picked his way past his team-mate Cédric Vasseur, but it was not until eight kilometres were left that it was reported that he was in the peloton once more.

The 25-year-old took care to stay out of trouble in the high-speed charge for the line, finishing 123rd in the same time as Zabel. "Getting hurt in the knee area always makes for a tough injury to cure," his Cofidis team manager, Bernard Quilfen, said. "He should be OK for tomorrow, though." This is the second time in two years that Millar has had crashes in the first week of the Tour. In 2001, he went flying on the second last curve of the prologue at Dunkirk, injuring his left leg, and later abandoned on the first mountain stage.

Millar was relatively lucky in comparison with other crash victims as the race made its way south-west through deepest Normandy. The Belgian Rik Verbrugghe, who broke his collarbone in a pile-up on Thursday, did not start, while the same crash that saw Millar nearly fall heavily for a second time spelled the end for the Kazakh climber Alexandre Shefer. His right hand twitching in pain as he lay on the tarmac, the Alessio rider, reported to have serious facial injuries, was taken to hospital, his Tour over.

Another typical feature of the traditionally tense first week are breakaway groups containing riders not considered a long-term threat, but on this occasion nearly two-thirds of the 199.5km stage had been covered before the race leader, Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, and his ONCE-Eroski team gave the thumbs-up to six breakaways, including, bien sur, the French specialist in such affairs, Jacky Durand. Gonzalez de Galdeano was actually responding to a call of nature when the break went clear, but his team-mates were vigilant at the front of the peloton and deterred the breakaway group from getting dangerously large.

With the move so late, the half-dozen never took more than a two-minute margin as the race squelched its way past swathes of brocage, herds of grazing Friesian cows and even the odd banner or two demanding freedom for the eco-rebel Jose Bové.

The peloton shut the door on the breakaways with 12 kilometres to go, although Durand, determined to wring out as much publicity as possible, rode round at least two more corners alone before finally bowing to the inevitable.

Sitting comfortable in third place behind the sprinters Gian-Matteo Fagnini and Danilo Hondo as the peloton moved through Alençon's suburbs, Zabel, the six-times winner of the points jersey, did not even start to accelerate until the two Telekom riders sheered off with less than 100 metres to go. The German was so keen – or so confident – to raise his arms in victory after successive defeats on home soil in Germany and then again in Reims, that he risked the gesture even before he crossed the line, despite the Australian Robbie McEwen and the Spaniard Oscar Freire being less than a wheel length behind. Zabel may be losing his speed, as some say, with age – he is 32 – but his timing appears to be as immaculate as ever.

Alasdair Fotheringham writes for Cycling Weekly