Stybar, a cyclocross giant, has spent the last year recovering after several major crashes, and won the sixth stage of the Tour de France on Thursday. © Thomas Van Bracht
2014 Cyclocross World Champion Zdenek Stybar won the sixth stage of the 2015 Tour de France.
The Czech rider was able to avoid a final kilometer pile-up that was seemingly caused by his Etixx-Quickstep teammate, Tony Martin as the German accidentally hit the wheel of the rider in front of him. Martin took over the yellow jersey from Chris Froome the day before, and was looking to hold his 12 second lead. As the crash was within the final three kilometers, Martin will still be able to don the yellow jersey as he officially places with the peloton. The extent of his injuries however, have yet to be seen, and he was seen holding his shoulder in the telltale broken collarbone position.
Zdenek Stybar had the lion’s share of the bad luck in spills in the 2014 road season, with two separate crashes ending his road and cyclocross seasons early. He quickly bounced back in the Spring as he contested the final sprint at Paris-Roubaix, although the German sprinter, John Degenkolb, took the win.
