After the first action on stage 6, stage 7 is, on paper, a day for the sprinters. However, due to the stage settings, there's a chance for GT attacks.
The break of the day: Santambrogio, Gautier and Coyot in the front group, followed by Coenen, Martin, former Mountain Jersey holder Brutt and Lefevre. They eventually caught up with the first three.
Lefevre, who had crashed earlier in this Tour de France, couldn't keep up with the other riders, though, and was eventually dropped. Meanwhile, in the peloton led by Wikipedia and Virgin, Solis tried attacking several times, probably for mountain points, but with no success. Instead, Pavel Brutt took the first 10 points, and with 20 waiting 15 km later, he'd be able to take the jersey back.
He would have to keep a strong Wikipedia team behind him, though.
Brutt did succeed, and while he attacked for the points, Devolder did the same - perhaps to shake Thomas Dekker?
As expected, Devolder's attack caused some panic in the peloton. Barredo, Anton, Intxausti, Kashechkin, Joly, Casar, Vinokourov, Contador, Gerrans and Wegmann all attacked while Philips remained cool and retook the front of the peloton - and they were succesful. All were reeled in rather fast. Perhaps, they were only attacking for mountain points?
Devolder wasn't done for today, though. With 16 km to go (and before the BOTD was caught), he tried again. At first, no one went with him, but shortly after, Intxausti, Plaza, Barredo, Vinokourov and Devolder's team mate Chavanel attacked.
Again, this didn't cause Dekker to attack. Instead, the team was sent to the front. This time, the job was harder, though. Vinokourov, Plaza and Barredo had managed to get a reasonable gap and had left Chavanel, Devolder and Intxausti behind. The four early breakaway riders had been passed and was soon to be caught by the peloton.
Under the 5 km mark, E1 had a gap of 1'20 to the peloton.
Devolder once again didn't have much left after his attack, and despite great efforts from Chavanel, the trio wasn't able to bridge the gap - on the other hand, they were probably satisfied with the fact that they'd take time from Dekker. Instead, the victory seemed to be a battle between Barredo and Vinokourov.
Despite a bad starting position, Plaza finishes very strong - Barredo takes the victory, though! Vinokourov takes a third which will surely please the team manager who had pretty much zero expectations prior to this race.
Shortly after, Intxausti passes the line ahead of Chavanel and Devolder. And amazingly, the break of the day also manages to stay in front of the peloton. The defending champion is back in yellow!
