Yes Sir, It's A French Win For Cedric Vasseur...!

The 229.5km 10th stage from Tallard to Marseille began at 12.14pm. There were 171 riders at the sign-on. On the itinerary were four climbs: the cat-4 cote de Chateauneauf (at 57.0km), the cat-4 cote de Villedieu (at 93.0km), the cat-3 cote de Bastides (201.5km) and the cat-3 col de la Gineste (at 219.5km). The two intermediate sprints were in Oraison (at 82.5km) and St-Maximin-la-Ste-Baume (at 154.5km). _ _ Six Escape For 35km _ The attacks began as soon as the flag dropped to signal the start. Six riders - Gerrans (A2R), Corioni (LAM), Charteau (C.A), Quinziato (LIQ), Gilbert (FDJ) and Grivko (MRM) – broke free at the 2.5km mark. Bouygues missed the move and six of their riders came to the front with both Pineau and Voeckler trying to bridge the gap but failing. Rabobank moved to the front at the 20km mark and the advantage of the escapees grew to 1’20”. Gerolsteiner and Cofidis also upped the tempo. The Australian was the best-placed on GC and no threat to Rasmussen’s lead (1h04’00” behind). The maximum gain of the escape was 1’20” at 24km. It was all over at the 37km mark. Wegmann attacked at 40.5km and led by 10” before being caught at 44km. There pace settled momentarily and the peloton rolled along with no attacks for 10 minutes. The average speed for the first hour was 48.3km/h. _ _ Burghardt Prompts Main Escape _ Chavanel (COF), Chavanel (FDJ), Willems (LIQ), Txurruka (EUS), Bennati (LAM), Voeckler (BTL) and Bichot (AGR) were the next attackers. They were caught before the first climb and the points were won by Burghardt (TMO) who then pushed on with a solo escape. At the 60km mark he led the peloton by 15”. Voigt (CSC), Flecha (RAB), Bossoni (LAM), Halgand (C.A), Scheirlinckx (COF), Albasini and Kuschynski (LIQ), Casar (FDJ), Vasseur (QSI) and Grivko (MRM) began to chase the lone German at the 73km mark. They caught him at 81km. Vasseur led Grivko and Bossoni over the line at the first intermediate sprint; the peloton was at 4’20”. The average speed for the 2nd hour was 44.5km/h. Voigt was the best-placed on GC of the escapes (36th, 24’39” behind Rasmussen). Rabobank controlled the peloton and allowed the advantage to grow to 11’15” at the feedzone (116.5km). The maximum gain of the escape was 14’00” at the 127.5km mark. The average for the third hour was 39.8km/h. _ _ French Trio Amongst Leading Quintet _ The team of the overall leader upped the tempo of the peloton at the 130km mark and the advantage of the escapees dropped to 10’45” at the site of the 2nd intermediate sprint with 75km to go. The first attack in the lead group came from Voigt on the cote de Bastides 32km from the finish. He was quickly chased down but Halgand went two kilometres later and split the lead group: only Albasini and Casar could follow. They had a lead of 8” on the Voigt and Vasseur at the summit but the two chasers. With 20km to go, five led six by 35”. The peloton was 11’15” behind. _ _ Vasseur Wins By 7.2cm _ Although there was a lot of attacking over the final climb and again after the descent to Marseille, none of the five main protagonists could drop each other. Halgand was most intent on trying to break the grip of the others before arriving on the streets of Marseille and he was awarded the Most Aggressive rider title for his efforts but it was Voigt who was forced to the front of the quintet with 2km remaining. He stayed there ahead of Albasini, Casar and Vasseur. That was the order until 250m from the line when Vasseur launched an attack down the blind side of Voigt, going up the right while the German looked left. The Quickstep rider was in the lead with 100m to go and held off a late challenge by Casar who finished 7.2cm behind Vasseur. It was the second Tour victory for the Frenchman - his first in stage five of 1997 race. _ Michael Rasmussen finished 30th in the stage at the same time as the Sebastien Chavanel (who led the peloton hom 10'36" behind Vasseur). The Rabobank rider will wear the yellow jersey in stage 11.