The rain stopped as the riders approached the final climb. Rasmussen took a 30" lead into the ascent but he was soon caught by a group of eleven, including Armstrong and Mayo. Having dropped Ullrich, Armstrong was quick to attack himself and the group pulled away from Ullrich. Sastre was still ahead of the group and with 3 km to the finish he was chased by Armstrong, who was accompanied by Ivan Basso. Armstrong caught and dropped Sastre and led Basso under the 1 km mark. In the final metres Basso put on a spurt, Armstrong did not respond, and Basso won the stage. Mayo came in 1'09" down, Ullrich 2'30", and Tyler Hamilton 3'27". Other riders staggered in over the next 100 minutes. Thomas Voeckler finished 3'59" behind but stayed in yellow (he has now spent longer in yellow than any Frenchman since 1992), Armstrong rose to second in the "classement général".