Rogers and Ramussen led a breakaway group up the Cormet de Roselend. Rogers crashed out but Rasmussen did not and went on to win the stage, 2nd was Mayo after a variety of attacks behind. 1 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 4.49.40 (34.18 km/h) 2 Iban Mayo Diez (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 2.47 3 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 3.12 4 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 3.13 5 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC 6 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 7 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana 8 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel 3.31 9 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 3.35 10 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC SNDeluxe Before the Roseland had even begun, Kloden and Evans had dropped out of the peleton, a poor descent early in the stage terminated their Tour hopes (They would lose 5'37). Rasmussen attacked on the Roseland and was 7th on the road up top. A crash-less descent and another climb and descent late the 29 man lead group approached the Montee du Tignes. Yellow jersey Moreau held a 40 seconds lead on the pack with 3 breakaway survivors inbetween. On a very dull climb, only Rogers could escape the peleton as Moreau wins. Valverde outsprinted the chase group for 3rd. 1 Christophe Moreau AG2R PREVOYANCE 5h00'56 2 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'13 3 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'44 4 Oscar Pereiro CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t. 5 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC s.t. 6 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC s.t. 7 Levi Leipheimer DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t. 8 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t. 9 Alberto Contador DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t. 10 Cyril Dessel AG2R PREVOYANCE s.t. 11 Igor Anton H. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t. 12 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANA s.t. 13 Paolo Savoldelli ASTANA s.t. 14 Linus Gerdemann T-MOBILE TEAM + 2'03 15 Andrey Kashechkin ASTANA s.t. 36 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK + 6'41 Iban Mayo crashed out of the tour in an earlier stage.
GCT Xavier Florencio was the only attack in the early part of the stage and at the top of the Rosleland, he held 3 and a half minutes over Michael Rasmussen. Contador and Gadret follow a minute further behind and the peleton are over 6 minutes down. At the top of the next climb, Michael Rasmussen has gone infront, Moreau 1'30 back and the lead group 30 seconds further down the road. Moreau got caught and Evans launched an attack, followed by 5 others. They caught and dropped Rasmussen and would stay away to the finish. Evans and Menchov were dropped before the sprint though, and Sandy Casar struggled. Despite drinking in the last kilometre and not sprinting at all, Vinokourov won. 1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANA 5h11'39 2 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC s.t. 3 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t. 4 Sandy Casar FRANCAISE DES JEUX + 13 5 Denis Menchov RABOBANK + 41 6 Christophe Moreau AG2R PREVOYANCE + 1'05 7 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM s.t. 8 Bernhard Kohl GEROLSTEINER s.t. 9 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t. 10 Andreas Kloden ASTANA s.t. 16 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC s.t. 18 Iban Mayo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t. 48 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK + 5'27
Real Name David Arroyo was the only realistic factor in the day's break, until Rasmussen attacked on the top of the 3rd small climb, and began progressing through the break's remnants. At the top of the Roseland, Vila and Arroyo led Rasmussen by a minute, with the peleton 7 minutes behind. Vinokourov led the attacks on the penultimate climb to set up an interesting rise to Tignes. Not for Rasmussen though, who was dropped by Vila at the start o9f the climb. It did not matter though, as first Vinokourov and then the chasing group of 4 passed. The 4 chasers did not work well together so it was a Kazakh victory. 1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANA 4h55'10 2 Levi Leipheimer DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 40 3 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t. 4 Denis Menchov RABOBANK s.t. 5 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC s.t. 6 Juan Manuel Gárate QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 1'16 7 Christophe Moreau AG2R PREVOYANCE + 3'29 8 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t. 9 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS s.t. 10 Cyril Dessel AG2R PREVOYANCE s.t. 17 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC s.t. 42 Iban Mayo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 5'30 65 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK + 8'31
