Patrice Halgand won a fast-paced 10th stage to become the first French victor at this year's Tour de France.

The Frenchman, riding for Jean Delatout, also won all three of the day's climbs and finished in just over three hours.

His compatriot Jerome Pineau finished second with Ludo Dierckxens of Belgium third.

Spain's Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano retained the overall leader's yellow jersey, while Robbie McEwen overtook Erik Zabel for the green jersey.

But the stage was overshadowed by the death of a seven-year-old boy who was hit by one of Tour's publicity cars.

He was immediately taken to a Bordeaux hospital but failed to recover from his injuries.

At the start of the stage, the riders had set about the 144km course at a blistering speed which barely dropped throughout.