The next day, stage 21 was the last to feature significant climbing, finishing at the Puy de Dôme. Hinault, now no longer trying to dislodge LeMond, instead focused on securing his lead in the mountains classification, which he did by collecting maximum points at the top of the Croix de l'Homme, the first climb of the day. Erich Maechler (Carrera Jeans-Vagabond) won the stage, having moved clear of a leading group at the start of the final ascent. Second was Ludo Peeters (Kwantum-Decosol-Yoko), 34 seconds behind. LeMond came in 6:06 minutes behind, in eighteenth place. Hinault, having worked for his teammate during the stage, fell back on the final climb and lost 43 seconds to LeMond, who extended his overall advantage to 3:10 minutes. Robert Millar, fighting sickness, dropped out during this stage.