The Pyrenees portion of the 2009 Tour ended with this stage which had two categorized climbs, the Col d'Aspin and the Col de Tourmalet and, as the previous day, a lengthy flat stretch before the finish, essentially neutralising the stage in terms of challenges relevant to the overall classification. An early break of twelve riders became thirteen after extensive effort by the Liquigas squad to get Franco Pellizotti across the divide. After not much more than half an hour, the escape group was reduced to four: Pellizotti, Jens Voigt, Pierrick Fédrigo and Leonardo Duque, who was dropped on the climb of the Col d'Apsin, while a chase group of 9 riders formed behind, including Egoi Martínez, who was to gain enough points over the cols to take the polkadot jersey at the end of the day. By the top of that mountain, the leading trio held an advantage of 2'45 over the counter-attack and 3'30 over the peloton; at the top of the Tourmalet only Pellizotti and Fédrigo remained at the front, with seven surviving chasers at 2'40 and the peloton at 5'05. The descent and flat run in saw all the escapees except the two leaders reeled in, as Rabobank and Caisse d'Epargne sought to engineer an opportunity for their sprinters, but Pellizotti and Fédrigo held on to contest the stage win between themselves, the Frenchman emerging as victor.