Burghardt and Barredo separated themselves from the rest of the riders two-thirds of the way through the 118-mile run from Bourg-d'Oisans to Saint-Etienne and had only each other to ride against for the stage.

They battled through the final miles, each waiting of the other to make a change. It wasn't until the final 250 yards when Burghardt make a final push that Barredo couldn't quite catch. Both riders were credited with a stage time of 4 hours, 30 minutes, 21 seconds. Roman Feillu was third and Christophe Le Level fourth, both 3 minutes, 33 seconds behind the leaders.

Sastre was 37th in the stage but retained the overall lead by 1 minute, 24 seconds over Frank Schlenk with Bernhard Kohl another 9 seconds back and Cadel Evans a second behind Kohl.

There are three stages remaining this year's Tour de France. Friday's race is a 99.3-mile route from Roanne to Montucon.