[4] A five-rider breakaway formed after 18 km in the saddle, involving Lars Bak, Maciej Bodnar, Yukiya Arashiro, Wim De Vocht, and Pieter Vanspeybrouck.

The top teams in the general classification, Quick Step and Garmin-Slipstream, worked to bring the breakaway back, since they also had strong sprinters who they wanted to try for the stage win.

Maxime Vantomme, Sebastien Turgot, and Koen de Kort also sought medical attention, but their injuries weren't considered serious enough for them to have to leave the race.

A 5-man breakaway formed after 18 km, comprising Juan José Haedo, Mathew Hayman, Tanel Kangert, Jérémy Roy, and David Deroo.

Several riders from that leading peloton tried to counterattack as the morning's breakaway was caught, and a group including Edvald Boasson Hagen was able to get away briefly.

Numerous other breakaways saw riders briefly get away, and Nick Nuyens had a gap of 20 seconds inside the final kilometer, but a mass sprint finish still took place.

The sprint was won by race leader Tyler Farrar, who extended his overall lead, though he expressed doubt in his ability to hold it when asked after the stage.

At the 60 km mark, Damien Gaudin broke away and was the lone leader for a time before being joined by Reinier Honig and Niki Terpstra.

Several further breakaways were attempted, and the pace needed to bring them back combined with the stage's hilly terrain made it so the leading group was for a time only about 30 riders strong.

Top contenders Bradley Wiggins, Vincenzo Nibali, and Sylvain Chavanel, among with many others, all tried to break away after the morning's initial escapees were caught, but none ultimately succeeded.

It was initially thought that Edvald Boasson Hagen had won the sprint, but close examination of the photo finish showed that Farrar in fact was the first across the line, for his third stage win of the Tour.

These were Sergio De Lis, David Deroo, and Jens Mouris, and they obtained a maximum advantage of close to 18 minutes, at the 75 km mark.

Lars Bak sprinted out of the leading group and went à bloc to survive to the line, saying later that he felt faint for a while after the stage win.

Vincenzo Nibali, who had been in fifth overall and was considered an important rider for Italy at the world championships, did not start this stage due to a season-ending broken collarbone sustained the previous day.

Team Columbia-HTC came forward inside the final kilometer and race leader Edvald Boasson Hagen jumped from an early leadout, just after a right-hand turn in the road, to sprint away to the stage win.

Tyler Farrar had been caught off guard, and could not make up the ground to Boasson Hagen, finishing third as the young Norwegian took the stage win.

An hour after Rasmussen's ride, Tony Martin and Thomas De Gendt both bettered his time by a few seconds, as rain began to fall.

The rain caused Joost Posthuma to spin out and crash after a right-hand turn, costing him such time that he fell from fifth on GC all the way to 11th after the stage.