ten seconds for vaugrenard

Seven riders in a breakaway which will almost certainly get caught. Among them are a past Giro d'Italia King of the Mountains winner who picked up the first (small) climb to wear the polka-dot jersey tomorrow, and a well-placed young rider named Benoit Vaugrenard, who has picked up some points at the intermediate sprints. He's not a contender for the green points jersey, but the sprints come with a small time bonus and at this point in the race only a few seconds separate the riders. His 10 seconds will boost him from 31st overall to 9th or 10th, right next to Floyd Landis, and put him in the white jersey of best young rider.

The breakaway riders working well together are lovely to watch. The pack doesn't want to catch them too soon lest another breakaway form.

Next we see how much the effort of the Credit Agricole riders in reeling in this breakaway have hurt Hushovd's chances for a stage win against the other sprinters in the pack.