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the day, just over eight minutes ahead of the peloton, at the top of the climb...

The two would battle over every one of the four fourth-category climbs as the breakaway stayed ahead as the rabbit for the peloton. Stephane Auge suffered a flat tire just before the start of the day's second climb, the Cote de Kerivarc'h, but rejoined the lead group in time to open up the attacks as he made his own bid for the King of the Mountains points. This time, however, it was Voeckler ahead of Schroeder as the two continued their head-to-head battle. Soon after the descent from the climb, the breakaway was contesting the first intermediate sprint point of the race at Plonevez-du-Faou. By the time the peloton arrived at the point, only five and a half minutes behind the breakaway now after 62 kilometers, Lequatre had already taken the first intermediate victory over Jegou and Perez.

Twenty-three kilometers later, the breakaway came up on the first official col of the Tour - the Col de Toullaeron, rising to a summit of 266 meters (873 feet) above sea level. Schroeder and Voeckler marked each other's moves, allowing Jegou to pass both of them for the points with Voeckler taking second to open a mere one-point lead into the final climb over his competitor. Immediately after, the second intermediate sprint came at Gourin; Lequatre took the prize again... and then the feed zone at Moulin-Trancher came up. Always a hectic place, with assistants for each team darting out into the road to hand off feed bags to the riders, crashes can easily occur - and this time the Tour's first feed zone took a victim, Herve Duclos-Lassalle of Cofidis, who suffered a broken wrist and was transfered to the hospital in Lorient.

Right before the final climb of the day, at around fifty-two kilometers remaining, a crash put the peloton on high alert to take extra caution. Among the riders who spilled off their bikes were Fabian Wegmann, Frank Schleck, and Yaroslav Popovych - all key lieutenants on their teams. All, however, emerged unscathed and caught back up to the main group to press on and continue another day. Their team leaders, including Popovych's leader (and number-one favorite) Cadel Evans...

But the breakaway leaders ahead were already on the Cote de Guenerve when the crash occurred, and both Voeckler and Schroeder were both determined to take charge of the King of the Mountains classification and the polka-dot jersey. Schroeder bested Voeckler, with both finishing behind David De La Fuente,

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