Rinaldo Nocentini claimed the yellow jersey on a day race favorite Alberto Contador flexed his muscles in the Tour de France’s first mountain stage.
France’s Brice Feillu won stage seven, a 224km hike from Barcelona to Andorra, but it is what went on just behind the gutsy Agritubel rider that will grab the headlines as Contador asserted his authority as Astana team leader ahead of team-mate Lance Armstrong, the record seven-time Tour winner.
AG2R La Mondiale’s Nocentini, part of a nine-man breakaway group which included Feillu and led the field almost all stage, finished fourth and far enough clear of the big guns at the top of the general classification to take the maillot jaune.
Stage 7 Results
1 Brice Feillu (Fra) Agritubel - 6:11:31
2 Christophe Kern (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne - 0:00:05
3 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Milram - 0:00:25
4 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale - 0:00:26
5 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi - 0:00:45
6 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale - 0:01:05
7 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Quick Step - 0:02:32
8 José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne - 0:03:14
9 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana - 0:03:26
10 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto - 0:03:47
