After 48 kilometres a group of about 20 riders took of at the côte de Megève (3rd category). The group with Mario Aerts (Silence-Lotto), José Luis Rubiera (Astana), David Lopez (Caisse d'Epargne), Juan José Oroz (Euskaltel), Patrice Halgand and Pierre Rolland (Crédit Agricole), Jürgen Van de Walle and Carlos Barredo (Quick Step), Vladimir Efimkin and Stéphane Goubert (Ag2r), Juan Antonio Flecha and Peter Weening (Rabobank), David Moncoutié and Amaël Moinard (Cofidis), Sebastian Lang (Gerolsteiner), Jérôme Coppel and Rémi Di Gregorio (Française des Jeux), Thomas Voeckler and Stef Clement (Bouygues Telecom), Charly Wegelius (Liquigas) and Chris Anker Sörensen (CSC) worked together and their lead on the bunch grew rapidly.

Pierre Rolland was first at the top ahead of Stef Clement, Jürgen Van de Walle, Jérôme Coppel and David Moncoutié. Rolland was also the first rider who passed the top of the second climb of the day, the côte d'Héry-sur-Ugine (after 72 kilometres), where the leading group had lead of 3:15 on the bunch.

After 119 kilometres there was a split in the breakaway group and 13 riders took off . About 10 kilometres before the top of the col de la Croix-de-Fer there were 12 riders left in the leadung group: Rubiera, Lopez, Halgand, Rolland, Van de Walle, Flecha, Moncoutié, Moinard, Di Gregorio, Efimkin, Goubert and Sörensen. After 180.5 kilometres Rolland added some more points for the mountain classification after he also was was first at the top of the HC climb. 

After 191 kilometres Mikel Astarloza and Oroz came back to the front group, the group with the overall favourites was 2 minutes behind.

Rabobank prepared an attack of Robert Gesink and was leading the chase in the still pretty big group with the overall favourites. After 213 kilometres the Dutch team reduced the gap to 55 seconds.

That was the sign for Sörensen to make his decisive move. The 23 year old Danish young gun took off and went solo on the way up to La Toussuire.

With 9 kilometres to go Sörensen had a lead of 1:30 on a first chasing group with Di Gregorio, Astarloza and Lopez. The group with the overall favourites was 1:50 behind.

Silence - Lotto's Cadel Evans attacked 5 kilometres before the line. ´With 3.5 kilometres to go Evans had a lead of 20 seconds on the group with Alejandro Valverde, where Robert Gesink was pulling the group.

With 3 kilometres to go Levi leipheimer (Astana) also atacked out of the Valverde group and soon he joined Evans.  Gesink couldn't follow Valverde's pace and was dropped. Evand and Leipheimer had an advantage of 25 seconds on the yellow jersey but Valverde caught the duo at the flamme rouge. At the same moment Pierrick Fédrigo (Bouygues Telecom) attacked.

Sörensen took the stage and Fédrigo came in second, 1:02 behind the svage winner. A few hundred metres before the finish Leipheimer attacked again and finished third, 1:10 behind Sörensen. The US rider is third overall and gained 5 seconds on overall leader Valverde and 7 seconds on the number two of the overall: Cadel Evans. Robert Gesink moved-up to fourth place overall.

Pierre Rolland took over the lead in the mountain classification from Sauner Duval's Juan José Cobo. Rolland has 86 points now, Vladimir Efimkin AG2R La Mondiale follows with 70m points. Cobo is third now (59 points).

The race will end tomorrow after the 127 kilometres long seventh and final stage. After 60.5 kilometres the riders will climb the Col du Granier (1st category), after 95 kilometres they will pass the top of the Col de Porte (2nd category), before they will be decsending to the finish in Grenoble. As Cadel Evans is only 39 seconds behind overall leader Valverde,Leipheimer is also in reach (1:24) of the yellow jersey.  Click here to view the map and profile of stage 7.

 

 

 

Stage 6 

1 157 SÖRENSEN Chris Anker CSC DEN 00"

2 124 FEDRIGO Pierrick BTL FRA 01'02"

3 11 LEIPHEIMER Levi AST USA 01'10"

4 118 SZMYD Sylvester LAM POL 01'15"

5 21 VALVERDE Alejandro GCE ESP ' '

6 1 EVANS Cadel SIL AUS 01'17"

7 31 ZUBELDIA Haimar EUS ESP ' '

8 71 GESINK Robert RAB NED 01'26"

9 52 CARRARA Matteo QST ITA 02'11"

10 14 NAVARRO Daniel AST ESP 02'13"

11 61 DESSEL Cyril ALM FRA ' '

12 141 BELTRAN Manuel LIQ ESP ' '

13 131 ROGERS Michael THR AUS ' '

14 53 GARATE Juan Manuel QST ESP P:20" 02'25"

15 33 ASTARLOZA Mikel EUS ESP ' '

16 101 CASAR Sandy FDJ FRA 02'48"

17 88 MONFORT Maxime COF BEL ' '

18 47 PAURIOL Rémi C.A FRA ' '

19 38 SANCHEZ Samuel EUS ESP ' '

20 104 DI GREGORIO Rémy FDJ FRA 03'37"

21 7 POPOVYCH Yaroslav SIL UKR 04'49"

22 63 DUPONT Hubert ALM FRA 05'35"

23 152 BAK Lars Ytting CSC DEN 07'08"

24 153 CUESTA Inigo CSC ESP ' '

25 151 SASTRE Carlos CSC ESP ' '

26 25 LOPEZ GARCIA David GCE ESP ' '

27 28 URAN Rigoberto GCE COL ' '

28 121 VOECKLER Thomas BTL FRA 07'19"

29 128 TROFIMOV Yury BTL RUS ' '

30 43 FOFONOV Dmitriy C.A KAZ 07'28"

31 46 LE MEVEL Christophe C.A FRA ' '

32 178 VELITS Peter MRM SVK 07'49"

33 64 EFIMKIN Vladimir ALM RUS 09'19"

34 145 MUGERLI Matej LIQ SLO 11'16"

35 96 WEGMANN Fabian GST GER ' '

36 132 BARRY Michael THR CAN ' '

37 62 ARRIETA José Luis ALM ESP ' '

38 81 MONCOUTIE David COF FRA ' '

39 137 HINCAPIE George THR USA ' '

40 158 SÖRENSEN Nicki CSC DEN P:10" ' '

41 73 FLECHA GIANNONI Juan AntRoAniBo ESP ' '

42 167 LOBATO Ruben SDV ESP ' '

43 107 MONNERAIS Cyrille FDJ FRA ' '

44 2 AERTS Mario SIL BEL ' '

45 87 MOINARD Amaël COF FRA ' '

46 56 VAN DE WALLE Jurgen QST BEL 13'48"

47 78 WEENING Pieter RAB NED ' '

48 17 RUBIERA José Luis AST ESP ' '

49 4 CIONI Dario David SIL ITA 14'59"

50 116 RIGHI Daniele LAM ITA ' '

51 123 QUEMENEUR Perrig BTL FRA 15'16"

52 48 ROLLAND Pierre C.A FRA 15'56"

53 74 MOERENHOUT Koos RAB NED 20'35"

54 3 BRANDT Christophe SIL BEL ' '

55 44 GERRANS Simon C.A AUS ' '

56 76 NIERMANN Grischa RAB GER ' '

57 45 HALGAND Patrice C.A FRA ' '

58 154 KOLOBNEV Alexandr CSC RUS P:10" ' '

59 41 HUSHOVD Thor C.A NOR ' '

60 144 KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr LIQ BLR P:10" ' '

61 105 GERARD Arnaud FDJ FRA ' '

62 103 COPPEL Jerome FDJ FRA ' '

63 66 GOUBERT Stéphane ALM FRA ' '

64 37 PEREZ Ruben EUS ESP ' '

65 24 HORRACH Joan GCE ESP 21'58"

66 16 PAULINHO Sergio AST POR 24'02"

67 12 BRAJKOVIC Janez AST SLO ' '

68 93 LANG Sebastian GST GER ' '

69 176 SCHRÖDER Björn MRM GER 25'18"

70 122 CLEMENT Stef BTL NED 26'30"

71 26 PEREIRO SIO Oscar GCE ESP 31'50"

72 27 PORTAL Nicolas GCE FRA ' '

73 8 SENTJENS Roy SIL BEL ' '

74 172 GRIVKO Andriy MRM UKR ' '

75 94 ORDOWSKI Volker GST GER ' '

76 54 GRABOVSKYY Dmytro QST UKR ' '

77 83 BRARD Florent COF FRA ' '

78 42 BONNET William C.A FRA ' '

79 35 ISASI Inaki EUS ESP ' '

80 125 LABBE Arnaud BTL FRA ' '

81 138 LEWIS Craig THR USA ' '

82 143 DA DALTO Mauro LIQ ITA ' '

83 58 VIGANO Davide QST ITA ' '

84 95 STAMSNIJDER Tom GST NED ' '

85 146 QUINZIATO Manuel LIQ ITA ' '

86 133 DAVIS Scott THR AUS ' '

87 127 PICHOT Alexandre BTL FRA ' '

88 147 WEGELIUS Charles LIQ GBR ' '

89 148 WILLEMS Frederik LIQ BEL ' '

90 165 MEGIAS Javier SDV ESP ' '

91 82 AUGE Stéphane COF FRA ' '

92 155 KROON Karsten CSC NED ' '

93 57 VAN IMPE Kevin QST BEL ' '

94 36 OROZ Juan Jose EUS ESP 35'51"

95 91 HAUSSLER Heinrich GST GER 39'44"

96 98 WROLICH Peter GST AUT ' '

97 174 LANCASTER Brett MRM AUS ' '

98 134 GRABSCH Bert THR GER ' '

99 166 JUFRE Josep SDV ESP ' '

100 162 DE LA FUENTE David SDV ESP P:10" ' '

101 75 HORRILLO MUNOZ Pedro RAB ESP ' '

102 163 COBO ACEBO Juan Jose SDV ESP ' '

103 108 VANENDERT Jelle FDJ BEL ' '

104 15 NOVAL Benjamin AST ESP ' '

105 23 GARCIA ACOSTA José VicenGteCE ESP ' '

106 51 BARREDO LLAMAZALES CarQloSsT ESP ' '

107 68 RIBLON Christophe ALM FRA ' '

108 126 LEFEVRE Laurent BTL FRA ' '

109 175 ROELS Dominik MRM GER ' '

110 177 SCHWAGER Sebastian MRM GER ' '

111 84 DUMOULIN Samuel COF FRA ' '

112 142 AGNOLI Valerio LIQ ITA ' '

113 22 COYOT Arnaud GCE FRA ' '

114 77 WALKER William RAB AUS ' '

115 67 LOUBET Julien ALM FRA ' '

116 85 HARY Maryan COF FRA ' '

117 173 KUX Christian MRM GER ' '

118 102 CHAVANEL Sébastien FDJ FRA ' '

119 5 DOCKX Bart SIL BEL ' '

120 164 FERNANDEZ Alberto SDV ESP ' '

121 32 ALBIZURI Benat EUS ESP 42'08"

DNF 6 LLOYD Matthew SIL AUS

DNF 18 VAITKUS Tomas AST LTU

DNF 34 BRU Jon EUS ESP

DNF 65 GADRET John ALM FRA

DNF 97 WESTPHAL Carlo GST GER

DNF 156 LJUNGQVIST Marcus CSC SWE

DNF 168 PASSERON Aurélien SDV FRA

DNF 171 GHISALBERTI Sergio MRM ITA

 

1 21 VALVERDE Alejandro GCE ESP 24h14'58" 00" 2 1 EVANS Cadel SIL AUS 24h15'37" 39" 3 11 LEIPHEIMER Levi AST USA 24h16'22" 01'24" 4 71 GESINK Robert RAB NED 24h17'45" 02'47" 5 31 ZUBELDIA Haimar EUS ESP 24h18'17" 03'19" 6 61 DESSEL Cyril ALM FRA 24h18'59" 04'01" 7 33 ASTARLOZA Mikel EUS ESP 24h19'23" 04'25" 8 118 SZMYD Sylvester LAM POL 24h19'27" 04'29" 9 88 MONFORT Maxime COF BEL 24h19'43" 04'45" 10 131 ROGERS Michael THR AUS 24h20'31" 05'33" 11 14 NAVARRO Daniel AST ESP 24h21'44" 06'46" 12 141 BELTRAN Manuel LIQ ESP 24h21'45" 06'47" 13 101 CASAR Sandy FDJ FRA 24h21'52" 06'54" 14 52 CARRARA Matteo QST ITA 24h22'21" 07'23" 15 104 DI GREGORIO Rémy FDJ FRA 24h22'32" 07'34" 16 128 TROFIMOV Yury BTL RUS 24h23'18" 08'20" 17 47 PAURIOL Rémi C.A FRA 24h24'04" 09'06" 18 152 BAK Lars Ytting CSC DEN 24h25'29" 10'31" 19 53 GARATE Juan Manuel QST ESP 24h26'16" 11'18" 20 151 SASTRE Carlos CSC ESP 24h26'59" 12'01" 21 178 VELITS Peter MRM SVK 24h28'14" 13'16" 22 43 FOFONOV Dmitriy C.A KAZ 24h28'51" 13'53" 23 153 CUESTA Inigo CSC ESP 24h29'15" 14'17" 24 63 DUPONT Hubert ALM FRA 24h29'33" 14'35" 25 64 EFIMKIN Vladimir ALM RUS 24h29'42" 14'44" 26 46 LE MEVEL Christophe C.A FRA 24h30'22" 15'24" 27 25 LOPEZ GARCIA David GCE ESP 24h31'14" 16'16" 28 7 POPOVYCH Yaroslav SIL UKR 24h31'45" 16'47" 29 4 CIONI Dario David SIL ITA 24h33'09" 18'11" 30 137 HINCAPIE George THR USA 24h33'49" 18'51" 31 48 ROLLAND Pierre C.A FRA 24h34'03" 19'05" 32 87 MOINARD Amaël COF FRA 24h35'12" 20'14" 33 158 SÖRENSEN Nicki CSC DEN 24h35'44" 20'46" 34 124 FEDRIGO Pierrick BTL FRA 24h36'21" 21'23" 35 81 MONCOUTIE David COF FRA 24h36'59" 22'01" 36 78 WEENING Pieter RAB NED 24h37'08" 22'10" 37 107 MONNERAIS Cyrille FDJ FRA 24h37'44" 22'46" 38 145 MUGERLI Matej LIQ SLO 24h37'49" 22'51" 39 28 URAN Rigoberto GCE COL 24h38'08" 23'10" 40 167 LOBATO Ruben SDV ESP 24h38'25" 23'27" 41 157 SÖRENSEN Chris Anker CSC DEN 24h39'10" 24'12" 42 2 AERTS Mario SIL BEL 24h39'45" 24'47" 43 132 BARRY Michael THR CAN 24h40'12" 25'14" 44 96 WEGMANN Fabian GST GER 24h41'06" 26'08" 45 66 GOUBERT Stéphane ALM FRA 24h41'47" 26'49" 46 45 HALGAND Patrice C.A FRA 24h43'53" 28'55" 47 121 VOECKLER Thomas BTL FRA 24h44'16" 29'18" 48 12 BRAJKOVIC Janez AST SLO 24h45'49" 30'51" 49 76 NIERMANN Grischa RAB GER 24h46'00" 31'02" 50 38 SANCHEZ Samuel EUS ESP 24h46'04" 31'06" 51 3 BRANDT Christophe SIL BEL 24h46'23" 31'25" 52 73 FLECHA GIANNONI Juan ARnAtoBnioESP 24h47'19" 32'21" 53 144 KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr LIQ BLR 24h51'10" 36'12" 54 74 MOERENHOUT Koos RAB NED 24h51'34" 36'36" 55 26 PEREIRO SIO Oscar GCE ESP 24h52'41" 37'43" 56 147 WEGELIUS Charles LIQ GBR 24h52'48" 37'50" 57 154 KOLOBNEV Alexandr CSC RUS 24h54'33" 39'35" 58 116 RIGHI Daniele LAM ITA 24h54'41" 39'43" 59 56 VAN DE WALLE Jurgen QST BEL 24h55'04" 40'06" 60 62 ARRIETA José Luis ALM ESP 24h55'22" 40'24" 61 37 PEREZ Ruben EUS ESP 24h56'02" 41'04" 62 16 PAULINHO Sergio AST POR 24h56'30" 41'32" 63 17 RUBIERA José Luis AST ESP 24h58'23" 43'25" 64 122 CLEMENT Stef BTL NED 24h58'42" 43'44" 65 163 COBO ACEBO Juan Jose SDV ESP 24h58'43" 43'45" 66 103 COPPEL Jerome FDJ FRA 24h58'46" 43'48" 67 138 LEWIS Craig THR USA 24h59'12" 44'14" 68 172 GRIVKO Andriy MRM UKR 24h59'35" 44'37" 69 51 BARREDO LLAMAZALES CQaSrTlosESP 24h59'58" 45'00" 70 93 LANG Sebastian GST GER 25h00'03" 45'05" 71 166 JUFRE Josep SDV ESP 25h01'39" 46'41" 72 44 GERRANS Simon C.A AUS 25h02'13" 47'15"

73 176 SCHRÖDER Björn MRM GER 25h03'10" 48'12"

74 24 HORRACH Joan GCE ESP 25h03'45" 48'47"

75 108 VANENDERT Jelle FDJ BEL 25h04'36" 49'38"

76 126 LEFEVRE Laurent BTL FRA 25h05'05" 50'07"

77 98 WROLICH Peter GST AUT 25h08'25" 53'27"

78 54 GRABOVSKYY Dmytro QST UKR 25h08'46" 53'48"

79 95 STAMSNIJDER Tom GST NED 25h08'58" 54'00"

80 8 SENTJENS Roy SIL BEL 25h08'59" 54'01"

81 123 QUEMENEUR Perrig BTL FRA 25h09'08" 54'10"

82 142 AGNOLI Valerio LIQ ITA 25h09'18" 54'20"

83 41 HUSHOVD Thor C.A NOR 25h09'26" 54'28"

84 27 PORTAL Nicolas GCE FRA 25h12'55" 57'57"

85 35 ISASI Inaki EUS ESP 25h13'27" 58'29"

86 105 GERARD Arnaud FDJ FRA 25h13'38" 58'40"

87 91 HAUSSLER Heinrich GST GER 25h14'35" 59'37"

88 148 WILLEMS Frederik LIQ BEL 25h14'45" 59'47"

89 36 OROZ Juan Jose EUS ESP 25h15'32" 1h00'34"

90 42 BONNET William C.A FRA 25h16'40" 1h01'42"

91 143 DA DALTO Mauro LIQ ITA 25h18'59" 1h04'01"

92 57 VAN IMPE Kevin QST BEL 25h19'10" 1h04'12"

93 146 QUINZIATO Manuel LIQ ITA 25h19'22" 1h04'24"

94 58 VIGANO Davide QST ITA 25h19'32" 1h04'34"

95 155 KROON Karsten CSC NED 25h19'52" 1h04'54"

96 133 DAVIS Scott THR AUS 25h20'39" 1h05'41"

97 94 ORDOWSKI Volker GST GER 25h20'50" 1h05'52"

98 162 DE LA FUENTE David SDV ESP 25h21'43" 1h06'45"

99 83 BRARD Florent COF FRA 25h21'49" 1h06'51"

100 127 PICHOT Alexandre BTL FRA 25h21'51" 1h06'53"

101 175 ROELS Dominik MRM GER 25h22'30" 1h07'32"

102 125 LABBE Arnaud BTL FRA 25h22'35" 1h07'37"

103 165 MEGIAS Javier SDV ESP 25h25'23" 1h10'25"

104 85 HARY Maryan COF FRA 25h25'26" 1h10'28"

105 77 WALKER William RAB AUS 25h28'03" 1h13'05"

106 174 LANCASTER Brett MRM AUS 25h28'56" 1h13'58"

107 82 AUGE Stéphane COF FRA 25h29'02" 1h14'04"

108 134 GRABSCH Bert THR GER 25h31'04" 1h16'06"

109 177 SCHWAGER Sebastian MRM GER 25h31'43" 1h16'45"

110 15 NOVAL Benjamin AST ESP 25h32'29" 1h17'31"

111 67 LOUBET Julien ALM FRA 25h32'49" 1h17'51"

112 68 RIBLON Christophe ALM FRA 25h33'27" 1h18'29"

113 75 HORRILLO MUNOZ Pedro RAB ESP 25h34'03" 1h19'05"

114 5 DOCKX Bart SIL BEL 25h34'24" 1h19'26"

115 84 DUMOULIN Samuel COF FRA 25h34'47" 1h19'49"

116 22 COYOT Arnaud GCE FRA 25h35'22" 1h20'24"

117 173 KUX Christian MRM GER 25h37'19" 1h22'21"

118 23 GARCIA ACOSTA José VicGeCntEe ESP 25h39'13" 1h24'15"

119 102 CHAVANEL Sébastien FDJ FRA 25h39'32" 1h24'34"

120 164 FERNANDEZ Alberto SDV ESP 25h46'20" 1h31'22"

121 32 ALBIZURI Benat EUS ESP 25h58'14" 1h43'16"