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Italian Riccardo Ricco won the sixth stage of the Tour de France in an uphill finish at Super-Besse, while Luxembourg's Kim Kirchen claimed the yellow jersey after finishing fifth.

German Stefan Schumacher, who won Tuesday"s 29.5 kilometre individual time trial, suffered a crash in the final 500 metres of the Super-Besse climb to relinquish the overall lead to Kirchen.

Spain's Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) finished second in the first categorised mountain finish of this year's Tour, while his main general classification rival Cadel Evans was right behind him in third.

CSC rider Frank Schleck finished fourth at four seconds behind Ricco and right in front of his compatriot from Luxembourg Kirchen after the 195.5km race from Aigurande to the finish line in the Massif Central.

Leonardo Piepoli, Roman Kreuziker, Carlos Sastre and Denis Menchov all finished in a small bunch just seven seconds behind Ricco.

"I wanted to win a stage and I achieved my goal as early as the sixth stage. Now I'll take the race day by day," said Saunier-Duval's Ricco, who ended 98th overall in his only Tour participation two years ago.

Italy's Damiano Cunego (Lampre) suffered near the end of the category two climb and ultimately finished with Shumacher at 32 seconds behind the eventual winner.

"He is disappointed because he did not have good legs," Lampre's spokesman Andre Appiani said of Cunego.

"But it is not a drama as Damiano is always struggling in the first week of a grand tour."

Australia's Evans is now second overall at six seconds off of Kirchen's leading time, with Schumacher third at 16 seconds back.

Kirchen, who becomes the first Luxembourg rider since Charly Gaul in 1958 to wear the yellow jersey, now believes he is a contender for the overall win.

"If I can go through the Pyrenees without losing too much time I'll be in front in the Alps and why not until Paris," said Kirchen.

Despite slipping to 23 seconds off of the winning time after launching a late attack, American Christian Vandevelde (Garmin-Chipotle) was able to move up to fourth overall at 44 seconds off pace.

Scot David Millar, also of the Garmin Chipotle squad, lost 51 seconds on the leaders but was able to retain fifth overall at 47 seconds behind Kirchen.

Frenchmen Sylvain Chavanel, Freddy Bichot and Benoit Vaugrenard broke away at the start of the stage and rode clear through Thursday's first three mountains.

But once on the category two Croix-Morand climb, Valverde's Caisse D'Epargne team began to accelerate the pace and eventually the lead trio were caught before the final ascent into Super-Besse.

After stunted attacks from several riders on the final 11-kilometre ascent to the finish line, Vandevelde and Italian Leonardo Piepoli launched a successful attack with five kilometres left to ride.

Ricco's Saunier Duval team-mate Piepoli marked the terrain for his compatriot perfectly, and Vandevelde soon faded allowing the Tour of Italy runner-up to claim his first Tour de France stage win.

Schumacher, meanwhile, bumped into the wheel of Kirchen before crashing to the ground in the final 500 metres and taking Gerolsteiner team-mate Bernard Kohl along with him.

Ricco had suffered a great deal after being dropped from the peloton in stage three and losing significant time in the stage four time trial.

The Italian is 31st overall at a full three minutes and 52 seconds behind Kirchen's leading time.

Friday"s seventh stage takes the peloton 159 kilometres from Brioude to Aurillac and involves five categorised climbs including two category two climbs in the final 60 kilometres.

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Jeremy Stahl / Eurosport