July 12, 2008

AUSTRALIA'S Cadel Evans remained second overall after the seventh stage of the Tour de France was won by Spain's Luis-Leon Sanchez in windy conditions.

Evans finished 12th to trail yellow jersey holder Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg by six seconds.

Germany's Stefan Schumacher is third overall, 16 seconds off the pace.

"I thought it would have been a little bit more of a relaxing day but you saw from the cross-winds and the splits everywhere that it never let up all day," Evans said.

Sanchez hit the front four kilometres from the end of the 159km stage from Brioude to Aurillac in the Auvergne, holding on for a solo victory.

Caisse d'Epargne's Sanchez was part of a group of four riders that broke away before the major climb but was caught toward the end of the race.

The Spaniard slipped away again at the end and this time was able to hold on. Sanchez came in six seconds ahead of a large group led by former yellow jersey holder Schumacher of Germany and Filippo Pozzato of Italy. Kirchen was fourth.

The 24-year-old Sanchez dedicated the victory to his elder brother, Leon, who died in a quad bike accident three years ago.

His other brother, Pedro, is a professional footballer with Spanish team Levante.

"Whenever we do something outstanding, we dedicate it to my brother," Luis-Leon Sanchez said.

The Tour favourites all rode close to the front of the main group and came in together. Despite attempts by several teams – including CSC and Garmin-Chipotle – to break the race apart, they could not be separated.

"I was very, very calm from the beginning," Kirchen said. "I had very good legs and recovered well from yesterday. I had a very good team. It gave me a lot of confidence, we controlled very well in a stage that has many climbs."

The big losers of the day were crash victim Damiano Cunego, the 2004 Giro champion, and fifth-placed David Millar of Britain, who both came in 33 seconds behind the winner. Sylvain Chavanel of France lost the polka-dot jersey for best climber to David de la Fuente of Spain, who was part of the four-man breakaway.

Christophe Moreau, a French rider with the Agritubel team who was briefly in contention for victory last year, was one of several cyclists to pull out of the Tour during Saturday's (EST) stage.

Saturday's eighth stage brings the riders out of the Massif Central and takes them down to the city of Toulouse, a 172.5km race beginning in Figeac.

But it will be a brief respite for the riders – they enter the Pyrenees on Monday (EST).