Božič also making it into the top ten, in eighth position. Hoogerland and Westra made breakaway manoeuvres on stages 4 and 6 respectively, but again could not muster a big enough advantage for a stage victory. Hoogerland did however take the lead of the mountains classification at the conclusion of the sixth stage, where Feillu had finished fourth and Marcato ninth. Feillu took another fourth place the following day on the seventh stage into Châteauroux. Hoogerland made another break from the peloton on the ninth stage, as he was joined by five other riders who extended their lead over the field. With remaining, Hoogerland and fellow escapee Juan Antonio Flecha of were involved in a dramatic crash; while attempting to overtake the riders, a support car from France Télévisions sideswiped Flecha, and as a result, caused Hoogerland to crash into a barbed wire fence, and would later require 33 stitches to close gashes on his leg. Prior to the crash, Hoogerland had gained enough points on the stage to retake the lead of the mountains classification from 's Tejay van Garderen. Flecha and Hoogerland both finished the stage and were jointly awarded the combative rider award for the day. Marcato made the breakaway on stage ten, with Feillu and Božič again making the top ten at stage end; Feillu finished fifth with Božič three places behind, in eighth place. Feillu closed the first half of the race, with sixth place on stage 11. None of the team's riders featured prominently in the early mountain stages, as it was not until stage 16 when Vacansoleil-DCM returned to the top ten of a stage result, with Marcato finishing eighth into Gap. Božič was tenth on stage 17 and seventh on the final stage, sandwiching two top ten placings for De Gendt, who finished sixth on stage 19 to Alpe d'Huez, and fourth on the following day's individual time trial. At the race's conclusion, the team's highest-placed rider was Ruijgh in 21st, some 33 minutes down on race winner Cadel Evans of . Vuelta a España Although the team had 2010 runner-up Mosquera on their books, they elected not to send him – having been on the team's pre-selection list – to the race due to the ongoing investigation into his positive doping case for hydroxyethyl starch. Instead, the team elected to place leadership upon the shoulders of Poels, who had taken second