behind Gilbert and Evans, but those who caught up with them, having been delayed in the Iglinsky incident, lost at least 1'20". Stage 2 3 July 2011 — Les Essarts, team time trial (TTT) The team time trial was relatively short at and mostly flat, so large time gaps were not expected. , who saw all their GC contenders lose nearly two minutes on stage 1, won the stage to place their world champion Thor Hushovd in the overall lead, while Cadel Evans, who had a three-second advantage over Hushovd going into the stage, was almost able to take the yellow jersey, as his team took just four seconds longer than to come second, a fraction of a second faster than . Stage 3 4 July 2011 — Olonne-sur-Mer to Redon, The break of the day, consisting of Mickaël Delage (), José Iván Gutiérrez (), Rubén Pérez (), Maxime Bouet () and Niki Terpstra () went clear within the opening kilometre of racing. Their lead reached a maximum of eight minutes after . The members of the breakaway took the intermediate sprint, but the sprint for remaining points caused controversy, as Mark Cavendish, who won the sprint, later had the points he won at this stage removed, as did Thor Hushovd. Delage and Gutiérrez were the last pair of the break to remain clear of the peloton, but were caught with remaining. The stage was won by Hushovd's teammate Tyler Farrar, who took his first individual Tour stage win. Farrar formed a 'W' sign with his fingers on the line in homage to his friend Wouter Weylandt who died in a crash on the Giro d'Italia in May. rider José Joaquín Rojas, third on the stage, assumed the lead of the points classification from Philippe Gilbert. Stage 4 5 July 2011 — Lorient to Mûr-de-Bretagne, This was an undulating course, with a steep hill shortly before the finish. A five-man breakaway group escaped after , consisting of Jérémy Roy (), Blel Kadri (), Imanol Erviti (), Johnny Hoogerland () and Gorka Izagirre (), and remained on their own until the foot of the Mûr-de-Bretagne. Defending champion Alberto Contador was the first to attack in the closing stages, causing several splits in the field, including a group of ten at the front of the race. As Contador's initial attack failed, Jurgen Van den Broeck tried to break clear, but was caught