Riccardo Ricco timed his assault to perfection to win the first summit finish in the Tour de France at Super Besse.

Ricco, the Saunier Duval climbing specialist, outfoxed race favourites Alejandro Valverde and Cadel Evans to win by one second in the sixth stage of the Tour - a 195.5kilometre ride through the mid-mountains of the Massif Central.

The major incident of a difficult final climb was the fall of yellow jersey holder Stefan Schumacher, who collided with a Gerolsteiner team-mate as he closed in on the summit.

Kim Kirchen, whose Columbia team-mate Mark Cavendish won Wednesday's stage, assumes the maillot jaune, six seconds ahead of race favourite Evans.

Ricco's win was his first in the Tour de France and it continues a fine season for the 24-year-old Italian, who also won two stages of the Giro d'Italia.

But he is still a long way from challenging for outright victory in France, trailing Kirchen by three minutes 52 seconds.

Kirchen assumes the maillot jaune 50 years after Luxembourg last produced a winner of the Tour de France, Charly Gaul. The Team Columbia rider also heads the points classification from Thor Hushovd of Credit Agricole.

Schumacher, who fell with 300metres to go, hangs onto fourth spot, 16secs back.

Britain's David Millar, of Garmin Chipotle, who finished 51secs behind Ricco in 59th, drops two places to fifth position in the overall classification, 47secs back from Kirchen.

The 11km climb into the Massif Central ski resort was notable for being the earliest summit finish in a Tour since 1981, when Lucien van Impe won at St Lary Soulan in the Pyrenees.

Christian Vande Velde (Garmin Chipotle) and Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval) headed into the final 1.5kms, 19secs in front of a chasing pack with many of the contenders for overall victory, including Ricco, Valverde, Evans, Kirchen and 2006 winner Oscar Pereiro.

Pereiro ducked and weaved in the final kilometre, trying to engineer a final push for his Caisse d'Epargne colleague Valverde, who suffered two crashes on Wednesday.

But Valverde was unable to lose his rival Evans, and Ricco took advantage by using his climbing power to move up on the left and take the stage win.

The early escape had been led by Sylvain Chavanel, who usurped Thomas Voeckler as King of the Mountains after being first over the Cote de L'Armelle, the Cote de Crocq, and the category two climb Col de la Croix-Morand.

After 169km out in front with compatriot Freddy Bichot of Agritubel, Chavanel eventually elected to preserve his energy and drop back into the main group.

The Cofidis rider goes level in the climbing classification on 27 points with Voeckler and will defend the polka dot jersey in Friday's hillier stage from Brioude to Aurillac.

"My initial goal was to find a way to win the stage," Chavanel told letour.fr.

"But en route, we quickly realised that the peloton would not let us get more than five minutes ahead.

"I have therefore changed my strategy and I will concentrated on winning the polka dot jersey, which is another of my objectives for the Tour. This was the only choice to make."

Ricco's stage win was a relief to his Saunier Duval team, who had lost a second member of their squad at the start of the sixth stage, when Aurelien Passeron was forced to retire following his crash en route to Chateauroux on Wednesday. The Spanish team had already lost Angel Gomez to injury.

Stage Six Result:

1 Riccardo Ricco (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 4hrs 57mins 52secs

2 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne at 0.01

3 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto at same time

4 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank at 0.04

5 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia at same time

6 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas at 0.07

7 Moises Duenas Nevado (Spa) Barloworld at same time

8 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank at same time

9 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank at same time

10 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott at same time

11 Manuel Beltran Martinez (Spa) Liquigas at 0.12

12 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi at same time

13 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne at 0.15

14 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Quick Step at 0.19

15 Thomas Lovkvist (Swe) Team Columbia at 0.23

16 Iouri Trofimov (Rus) Bouygues Telecom at same time

17 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Credit Agricole at same time

18 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi at same time

19 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 at same time

20 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) AG2R La Mondiale at same time

Selected Others:

39 David Millar (Gbr) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 at 0.51,

168 Mark Cavendish (Gbr) Team Columbia at 17.46

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