David Zabriskie launched and drove the day’s main breakaway on stage 6. That effort combined with his solo attack at the end earned Zabriskie the ‘most combative award, the lone bright spot on an otherwise dismal day for the argyle.
“We tried pretty hard to be smart about it,” said Zabriskie about the break.
“[The peloton] didn’t give us too much leeway. I tried to give it one last acceleration and that gave me a gap so I just gave it a go.”
The team’s run of bad luck in the opening week of the race continued today with multiple argyle going to the ground in unavoidable crashes that affected most of the peloton. Tom Danielson, already bravely riding with a separated shoulder, crashed again and was forced to abandon the race.
Johan Vansummeren and Ryder Hesjedal also unable to avoid the crash as it occurred near the front of the group.
When asked about the extremely bad luck affecting the team, Zabriskie said, “That’s the Tour. A lot of crashes happen — a game of luck sometimes.”
Still the argyle armada will perservere led by Jonthan Vaughters, who tweeted: “In cycling, a good team isn’t defined by how perfect it is in winning moments, but instead how it moves forward when all is [bad]. Onward.”
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