Tour de France Daily – Thor Hushovd Retains the Race Lead over Stage Winner Cadel Evans

Today's stage: A mostly flat stage raced in ugly weather with a short steep climb up the Mur-de-Bretagne.

Contador (L) celebrates what appears to be a win though Evans (R) took the stage in a photo finish. (AP/Christophe Ena)

Who won the stage? Cadel Evans (Australia, BMC Racing) survived the final climb and outsprinted Alberto Contador (Spain, Saxo Bank-Sungard) at the end.

What matters in the GC race? Thor Hushovd (Norway, Garmin-Cervelo) retained his yellow jersey finishing in the same time as Evans and Contador. Among the favorites, nothing major happened. Evans is still the top placed among the leaders and is second overall. A few of the other favorites lost 6-8 seconds to Evans and Contador, but nothing major as long as that doesn't become a habit in this race.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (best sprinter): Spanish National Road Race Champion JJ Rojas (Movistar) retained his green jersey. Evans is second (though not a threat in this competition as the bunch sprint stages coming will see him go backwards) and stage 1 winner Philippe Gilbert (Belgium, Omega-Pharma Lotto) is third.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains): Evans took the lead in this competition and will wear the polka dot jersey tomorrow. The real contenders haven't shown themselves yet in this competition, especially with new rules limiting the amount of points available on lesser climbs.

White Jersey (best young rider): Geraint Thomas (UK, Team Sky) still leads while returning winner Robert Gesink (Netherlands, Rabobank) lurks a few second behind him.

Biggest surprise: Hushovd retains the yellow jersey. Everyone (including possibly Thor himself) expected the yellow jersey to change hands today. Now there is a good chance, with three probable bunch sprints upcoming, that Hushovd will lead until Saturday's stage in the Massif Central.

Biggest disappointment: The Schlecks did nothing. Andy Schleck (Luxembourg, Leopard-Trek) is supposed to be one of the main contenders, but his whole season has been underwhelming and he lost 6 seconds finishing in the second group today. Meanwhile Frank Schleck (Luxembourg, Leopard-Trek) finished with the first group but did so quietly when an attack could have put Contador in some danger.

Other items of note: Contador seemed to overcook himself when he attacked on the climb, but got a second wind and nearly outsprinted Evans for the stage win... We had our first abandon today as Jurgen Van de Walle (Belgium, Omega-Pharma Lotto) left the race, likely due to the effect of lingering injuries from his stage 1 crash... Tyler Farrar (USA, Garmin-Cervelo) took the bunch intermediate sprint...

What is coming tomorrow? Long, mostly flat stage that will end in a bunch sprint, no matter what the breakaway does. With Hushovd holding the yellow jersey instead of a GC contender, the breakaway chance of staying away as Garmin-Cervelo will want to keep the yellow jersey as long as possible.