As the peloton reached Paris, a ten-man break including Axel Merckx and Thomas Voeckler got away, but was pulled back several laps further down the Champs-Élysées. Eventually, the stage was won with a solid sprint by Tom Boonen. Armstrong sat well back, losing ten seconds to his nearest rival, but staying in the yellow jersey by well over six minutes. This appeared at the time to represent an unprecedented sixth Tour de France win for Armstrong, but he was stripped of the 2004 title with all others following a 2012 doping investigation.