Denis Menchov abandoned the Tour two hours into the stage. The Caisse d'Epargne riders dropped when the break extended to four minutes over the peloton, and Discovery retook the workload. The lead of the break extended more and more; essentially Discovery was content to let them go. When the lead ballooned to eight minutes, it was calculated, given the flat course, the peloton could not make the gap up even if they wanted to. A bunched sprint for ninth place and the 17 green jersey points it afforded was still expected.