[3] Additionally, Caisse d'Epargne was noted to be bringing a strong squad, including reigning Vuelta a España champion Alejandro Valverde.

Valverde's presence was speculated to increase the chances for 2005 Tour Down Under champion Luis León Sánchez, who is riding a program in 2010 meant to lead to victory in Paris–Nice.

[4] Along with Sánchez, Cooke's teammate Stuart O'Grady, Martin Elmiger from Ag2r–La Mondiale, Wesley Sulzberger of Française des Jeux, and Garmin–Transitions rider Robbie Hunter were also named as contenders.

[5] The teams participating in the race were: The first stage had a sloping profile, with a point-awarding climb coming up Menglers Hill Road at the 114 km (71 mi) mark.

About 300 m (980 ft) after the true beginning of the stage, a Euskaltel–Euskadi rider crashed in the middle of the peloton and brought half the group down with him.

Timothy Roe, Martin Kohler, and Blel Kadri formed the day's significant breakaway, coming clear of the peloton after 20 km (12 mi).

In the last 20 km (12 mi), a driving Team HTC–Columbia, led by time trial specialist Bert Grabsch, absorbed all of them back into the peloton.

His team Astana had come to the race without radios, and therefore his teammates did not know that he was not with the main group during the Mengler Hill climb.

Omega Pharma–Lotto teammates Mickaël Delage and Olivier Kaisen formed the day's breakaway with UniSA–Australia rider David Kemp.

Minor controversy followed, as both Greg Henderson and Danilo Wyss accused other riders (namely Robbie McEwen and Graeme Brown) of poaching their leadouts and therefore causing them to lose finishing positions.

This stage contained the Tour's most difficult climb to this point, Wickhams Hill Road, which came just before the 40 km (25 mi) mark.

The day's breakaway involved Simon Clarke of UniSA–Australia and Karsten Kroon from BMC Racing Team, who were joined at the 70 km (43 mi) mark by Maciej Paterski, Jens Voigt, and Jack Bobridge.

Caisse d'Epargne was the team who worked the hardest to chase them down, thinning the leading group to try to protect Alejandro Valverde, José Joaquín Rojas, or Luis León Sánchez for a stage-winning attack.

Graeme Brown and Robbie McEwen started their sprints earlier than race leader André Greipel, but for the third time the big German was delivered safely first to the line by his leadout train.

It included two riders from Caisse d'Epargne in Alejandro Valverde and Luis León Sánchez, who had come to the race eager to earn victories.

[4] The other two riders were Peter Sagan from Liquigas–Doimo, who had figured into breakaways in previous stages and in the Cancer Council Helpline Classic earlier in the week, and Cadel Evans.

While Team HTC–Columbia pulled, the strain of the breakaway and the final meters of the climb took its toll on the other three members of the leading group, who fell off as Sánchez soloed to the finish line.

[23] Robbie McEwen and Greg Henderson formed a breakaway early in the criterium which gave them, respectively, the two intermediate sprints the stage offered.

Later, Wesley Sulzberger, Trent Lowe, and Fabio Sabatini broke away to try for the stage win, riding the last five laps of the criterium ahead of the peloton, but Team Sky brought them back before the finish.

As they had in the Cancer Council Helpline Classic earlier in the week, the new British team took the top two finishing positions in this stage, with Christopher Sutton ahead of Henderson this time.