As the peloton leave Limoux the attacks are quick and the break is established early on. Four riders: Denifl(RBL), Matamoras(TCL), R J Van Rensburg(KLU) and best placed Zingle(SSL) @33'29 quickly pull away from the peloton, they will be joined just before the col du Portel by Valach(STM) and Veikkanen(KLO) for the 'official' six man break of the day.

Much of the early pace setting on the peloton was done by Nokia Ekspla with interjections from riders from multiple teams, such as Rosseler (SCD) what a tour he has had.

With 115 kilometres to go the break have an advantage of 7 minutes when the peloton reaches the intermediate sprint at Lavelanet. The points are heavily contested behind, with Thomas(PDA) taking the max points available and Hinault(SCD) just beating green jersey Phinney(IKO) to an extra point.

Points for sprint point at Lavelanet:

With 110 kilometres to go and the break @ 7 minutes the first in a series of strange events happens on the stage....Banco do Brasil come to the front of the peloton and go about setting a fierce pace on the front, despite having no rider who might excel on this stage.

With 70 kilometres to go the break have an advantage of 5 minutes when they reach the brute Port de Lers, a 10.8 kilometre climb averaging 7.3%. Banco do Brasil riders immediately withdraw from the front of the peloton and Nokia Ekspla ride on the front, but they have no intention of catching the break out front.

Although Nokia Ekspla weren't pushing on riders were still being tailed off the peloton, such as Richeze(QMS) and Chavanel(PVE). At the top the break had an advantage of 3:24, no attacks from the peloton.

With 45 kilometres to go the break reach the final climb of the day, the 8 kilometre 9.2% average Mur de Pegure, surely there will be some action now.....

But there isn't any action. The break has been dwindled down to four riders, with Matamoras and Valach both having been dropped now as the break reaches the top of the climb with 1:50 advantage...surely if anyone attacks now out of the 54 man peloton attacks a stage win is up for grabs........

VOGONDY. Vogondy(STM) attacks over the top of the climb....but immediately stops....was he going for mountain points? He didn't even have 5 points before that attack.

On the long descent the peloton swells to 74 riders and continues to swell.

Nokia Ekspla continue to set pace on the peloton and the break grows its advantage to 2:10 with 22 kilometres to go, is anyone interested in this stage apart from the four riders out front?

[center]With 20 kilometres to go the break's advantage slightly falls, more due to fatigue than anything....with 10 kilometres to go the break have 1:30 over the peloton....with no chase from behind whatsoever.....

the gap to the break from the yellow jersey group will grow out to beyond 2 minutes. The stage winner will come from either Koenigsegg Libero, Kulalu, Redbull Nissan or Sahin Sucucklarli. A brilliant opportunity for these teams who have not won a stage so far.

Into the final, Van Rensburg is the first to launch his sprint, confident in his abilities...

But he goes too early, Zingle is out of it. Veikkanen comes past Van Rensburg but so does Denifl...can Veikkanen get back on terms?......

no he can't. STAGE WIN FOR DENIFL, STAGE WIN FOR REDBULL NISSAN, well worth it for the amount of breaks they have been in in this tour..

SUCCESS AT LAST FOR REDBULL NISSAN! Also respectable podium places for Koenigsegg Libero and Kulalu....Golas(BSE) sprinted first and won the sprint behind. But the big favourites and stage hunters should look at themselves and say this is a missed opportunity..

All classifications remain pretty much unchanged with Quilmes leading Nokia by 2'59 in the team classification

Stage GC:

ULTRA CLASSIFICATION STAGE:

GENERAL OVERALL:

ULTRA CLASSIFICATION OVERALL: