Sylvain Chavanel once again made an attempt to gain valuable time in the GC rankings, sticking to the wheel of an attacking Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) when he attacked with 9kms to go.
A three rider break remained up the road at the time of Gilbert's attack, but the gap was coming down drastically. Jerome Pineau was with Chavanel temporarily, but he dropped back along with Gilbert and all except Chavanel and two other riders with 5km remaining.
Chavanel, Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) and Wout Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM) were reeled in with 4km to go, despite trying their best to stay away on a descent toward the flat finishing stretch. This set up the inevitable field sprint. However, a crash in the middle of the peloton within the final 2.6km caught several Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team riders behind it, excluding riders such as Chavanel, and Peter Velits. Peter, who has done a fantastic job staying toward the front throughout the Tour thus far, was the top finisher for the team in14th place. Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) won the stage, with Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) taking 2nd and Tom Veelers (Argos-Shimano) was 3rd. Several big name riders went down in the crash, including World Road Champion Mark Cavendish (Sky ProCycling).
Tony Martin once again finished without incident, despite racing with a fractured scaphoid in his left hand. He wore a new cast, which was designed the previous night by specialists.
