Vandevelde, Hunter, and Millar all crashed, with Millar reportedly crashing three separate times and Vandevelde twice. Dean, Farrar, and Vandevelde were all taken to the hospital for checkups, and Vandevelde was forced to abandon the race after X-rays revealed that he had broken ribs. Dean and Farrar both started the next day, but did so at well below full strength. In stage 3, which was expected to be difficult and crash-ridden since its course included several cobbled sectors. Hesjedal made the day's major breakaway, and rode away from them as the cobbles began. A five-rider chase group, led by Cancellara, caught him in the sectors just before the finish line. He did, however, manage to stay with this group, placing fourth on the day. The result moved him up to fourth overall, and he earned the day's combativity award. The next day's stage was flat, and considered perhaps the easiest stage of this Tour. Dean and Hunter, who were meant to Farrar's leadout men, took second and fifth respectively on the stage. Farrar was 23rd, as he was still feeling the effects of his crash in stage 2 and could not sprint at full strength. Stage 5 was also flat with a sprint finish. Farrar was again distant at the finish, though he improved to tenth. In another flat stage the next day, Farrar's form had improved further as he finished second, just behind Mark Cavendish. Hunter was also among the top riders for this stage, finishing ninth. The seventh stage was the first in the mountains. While Sylvain Chavanel broke away for the stage win and race leadership, Hesjedal finished the stage near the front of the 40-rider strong group that contained most of the race's overall favorites, and moved up to third overall. He lost a minute and 14 seconds to the race's elite riders the next day, finishing 14th in the first true mountain stage. Hesjedal was in fifth place on the race's first rest day, but he fell even further after stage 9 and the Col de la Madeleine. The Canadian lost three minutes to the majority of the race's top riders, who themselves lost two minutes to Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador, and fell to 12th. Back to the flats in stage 11, Farrar finished third behind Cavendish and Alessandro Petacchi. The stage was notable for events which took place during that sprint. Farrar's leadout