At the very beginning of the day's racing a breakaway started, with Rémy Di Gregorio, Rubén Pérez and Peter Velits, joined later by Stefan Schumacher. With three major cols, the field inevitably became very fractured, but this group stayed clear of the main contenders for much of the day, with Schumacher first over the Galibier, and Velits taking the Croix de Fer. By the base of the Alpe d'Huez, only Velits and Jérôme Pineau were in front of the elite riders, whose group then numbered about 12. At the bottom of this final ascent of the day Carlos Sastre attacked twice, tagged by Menchov on the 1st go before eventually breaking clear. His fellow Team CSC Saxo Bank members in the group, Andy and Fränk Schleck worked to interrupt any counterattacks on the way up to Alpe d'Huez, and Sastre finished two minutes clear to claim yellow from the older Schleck brother, and establish a lead that he might be able to sustain in the time trial to follow.