 Fourteen riders representing twelve teams broke away after 12 km ( 7 @.@ 5 mi ) . They stayed clear as a group through the four climbs on course before they started to splinter . Danilo Di Luca 's LPR team drove the peloton most of the day , because the finish figured to favor Di Luca more than race leader Denis Menchov or the man in third , Levi Leipheimer . However , one team pulling at the front of the peloton proved to be no match for a 14 @-@ man breakaway working cohesively , and by the time the peloton reached the descent of the fourth climb , the last before the summit finish , it was clear the breakaway would not be caught . The breakaway was still twelve strong as it began the last climb of the day . Andriy Hryvko was the first to attack for the stage win , but he was caught well before the summit , and wound up finishing in the pink jersey group a minute behind the stage winner . The decisive attack came from Simon Gerrans , who no one could match , giving the Cervélo rider the stage win . Leipheimer and Ivan Basso were both dropped from the pink jersey group just before the summit of the climb and the end of the stage , losing three potentially valuable seconds to the other highly placed riders in the GC . Michael Rogers was a further three seconds back of Leipheimer and Basso , causing him to drop from sixth to seventh in the GC . 
