Christophe Mengin had tears in his swollen left eye as he recounted how his hopes of hometown glory on the Tour de France ended on a rain drenched road.

The 37-year-old Francaise des Jeux rider from the Lorraine region led the 199-kilometer sixth stage from near the start in Troyes to the final stretch in Nancy, just minutes from where he grew up. Two kilometers from the finish it looked like he just might hold off the pack and take the stage. But less than a kilometer from the finish, he misjudged the final curve – a dog-leg right – and crashed into the barrier to end his courageous escape.

“He is exemplary, outstanding,” said Francaise des Jeux team manager, Marc Madiot, as his voice broke into a sob. The coach had nominated the local hero as the man who would lead the breakaway, and despite his best efforts to guide him via radio, that dream ended with a skid and a crash. “I’m sad, very sad for him,” Madiot said, shielding his eyes.

As Mengin closed in on his second career stage victory in the Tour, Madiot screamed into his car’s radio, “Go, Toto, you’ve got the whole pack right behind you! Just 20 seconds behind! Go, go, go, go!”

Indeed, the peloton was closing in a rate of 10 seconds per kilometer, just enough to catch him at the finish. But Mengin pushed it a step too fast. The coach soon heard the news of the accident over the radio and swore under his breath. “He’s cursed … Oh, forget it, it’s finished.”

The corner took out half the chasing peloton and left the finish wide open. Mengin was being closely chased by Lorenzo Bernucci (Fassa Bortolo) and Alexandre Vinokourov (T-Mobile). Vinokourov was forced to unclip from his pedals to avoid crashing into the fallen Frenchman, and Bernucci deftly slipped around to take the stage.

Vinokourov took second place and a six-second bonus that moved him up to third in the race’s overall standings. Mengin, bleeding and holding his broken bicycle by the side of the road, could only watch.

The rain and strong winds made the stage extremely difficult for the riders.

“It wasn’t pretty,” said Lance Armstrong, who avoided the crash and hung onto the leader’s yellow jersey after finishing with the pack. Wearing a black windbreaker through most of the stage, he stayed behind his Discovery Channel teammates and out of harm’s way.

“It wasn’t easy to manage that descent, that small descent,” Armstrong said. “[Team manager] Johan [Bruyneel] was on the radio constantly, ‘500 meters, turn to the right; 200 meters, turn to the left.'”

The supersprinters Tom Boonen (Quick Step) and Robbie McEwen (Davitamon Lotto) – who between the two of them had won all three road stages so far – both fell in the crash. The two rivals got up and leisurely pedaled to the finish together, near last place, chatting amicably.

Bernucci, competing in his first Tour de France, was almost unknown before his stage win. He kissed his wedding band as he crossed the line and counted his many blessings, glad to find himself in the right place at the right time.

“Yes, it is my first victory in every sense,” he said. “I dedicate it to my wife.”

Today’s 228-kilometer ride to Karlsruhe, Germany (the birthplace of the modern bicycle, incidentally), will be one of the last flat days on the Tour before it reaches the Alps. More rain is expected, which will complicate a seventh stage that includes two hills and then a long, fast descent on windy village roads.