The day begins with Danilo Di Luca's retirement from the tour, the Liquigas team leader had suffered a pre-race fever

After 4km of racing, Aitor Hernandez of the Euskatel-Euskadi team initiates the first breakaway with David de la Fuente

With his lead disappearing, yellow-jersey wearer George Hincapie and his Discovery team lead the efforts to catch-up

Fabian Wegmann comes third in the first ascent of the day to retain the Polka Dot jersey lead as King of the Mountains

By the second climb, the Discovery riders have closed the gap on the leading pair to 10 minutes and 35 seconds

Hernandez displaces Wegmann as the mountain king and continues to alternate the lead with De la Fuente after 50km

One of the more unusual sights of the day is a fan on horseback cheering on the riders as they chase the leaders

With less than 100km to go, the split between the front two and the peloton sticks around the 7:45 mark

De la Fuente leaves Hernandez with around 40km remaining but the climbs and sprints leave him only 2:40 ahead

The pack finally draw level, with first Wegmann and then Matthias Kessler leading a break for the finish line

Behind him, Patxi Javier Vila crashes causing the peloton to come to a temporary halt with just minutes of the stage to go

Kessler gets caught leaving Robbie McEwen, Thor Hushovd and Tom Boonen to fight for first place in an exciting ending

It is Australia's McEwen who edges home to claim his ninth stage win and take possession of the green jersey

Despite his arm injury, Hushovd finishes third allowing him to reclaim the yellow jersey from Hincapie