38 km raced Iñigo Landaluze managed to get away, he was chased and caught by Filippo Simeoni and the duo pulled out their lead. A number of riders attempted to join them but none made it across the gap, although Karsten Kroon spent a long time alone between the two groups before giving up the solo chase on the second climb, the Cote d'Aubusson. With 100 km to the finish the two leaders were almost 2 min 30 s clear and the peloton slowed a little. The leaders' advantage rapidly increased, rising by over four minutes in the next 25 km and peaked at 10 min 05 s when the peloton reached the second climb. After the climb the riders of Crédit Agricole, Lotto–Domo and Quickstep came to the front of the peloton and raised the pace. The lead fell slowly, with 44 km to go they were still 6 min 10 s ahead. With 25 km to the finish they still had a little under four minutes in hand, with 15 km just two minutes, 10 km 1 min 25 s, 5 km just 40 seconds. With just the final kilometre to race Landaluze and Simeoni were swept up, they had started playing tactical games for the final lead out and the sprinters just blew past them. In the sprint for the line Robbie McEwen just edged out Thor Hushovd and Stuart O'Grady. McEwen now had an 18-point lead in the green jersey clash. Footnotes References Prologue To Stage 9, 2004 Tour de France stages