6th Gala Tour de France - September 23, 2001 - Luxembourg

Summary of the race

46 riders on the start of the 6th edition of the Gala Tour de France. After some slow first laps, Jacky Durand, aggressive as usual, is the first to attack. After a lot of other attacks of several riders, a few laps away from the finish, there is finally a group getting away from the bunch: Jalabert, winner of last year and favourite, Kirchen, the local favourite, Ekimov, Diercksens and Blaudzun. With one lap to go, Ekimov attacks and proves his fantastic abilities as time trialist: he will not be caught again, even with Jalabert and Kirchen chasing behind. The russian rider wins the race in front of Jalabert who is beating Kirchen very clearly in the sprint for second place.