Weather: Sunny to partly sunny all day, highs in high 70, moderate westerly winds

Stage winner: Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) uncorked a perfect sprint in the final 100 meters to surprise everyone in a chaotic finale that saw riders surging from all sides. The veteran Aussie crashed with about 20km to go after being caught in a pileup but regained contact with the peloton with less than 10km to go. It’s McEwen’s 12th career Tour stage victory. Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) finished second to climb into eighth overall at 29 seconds back with Tom Boonen (QuickStep-Innergetic) third.

Race leader: Prologue Fabian Cancellara (CSC) retained the yellow jersey after teammates Dave Zabriskie, Iñigo Cuesta and Jens Voigt did the work to keep a five-man breakaway within range. Cancellara finished 22nd, safely tucked in the main bunch, to carry the yellow jersey back into Belgium.

Green jersey: Three-time champion McEwen donned the points jersey following his stage victory. McEwen leads with 35 points to Hushovd’s 30 points and Boonen’s 26.

King of the Mountains: David Millar (Saunier Duval-Prodir) claimed his first Tour polka-dot jersey after sneaking away in the day’s main breakaway. He took three points after leading the breakaway over the day’s first of three Cat. 4 climbs at 94.5km and took two points with second at the third climb at 183km. He’s tied with Stéphane Auge (Cofidis) with five points each, but he claimed the jersey because he’s better placed on GC. Millar also surged to third overall at 21 seconds back after picking up 12 seconds in time bonuses.

Best young rider: Vladimir Gusev (Discovery Channel), fifth in Saturday’s opening prologue, retained his six-second lead to Thomas Dekker (Rabobank). Best team: Astaná retained its two-second lead over Team CSC.

Most aggressive rider: Stéphane Auge (Cofidis) earned the Tour’s first combative prize as a consolation for losing the climber’s jersey in a tie-breaker to Millar, with the eight-man panel saying that “his disappointment is higher than the efforts he used on the roads to Kent.”

Lanterne rouge: Aleksandr Kuschynski (Liquigas) coasted in last after riding in the day’s main breakaway and now cools his jets in last at 8:41 back.

Top American: George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) finished 24th without challenging for the sprint. Hincapie is also the best-placed in GC at fourth overall at 23 seconds back.

The peloton: Eduardo Gonzálo (Agritubel) became the Tour’s first abandon after crashing at 67km. The peloton is now 188 riders.

Medical report: Gonzálo suffered a major trauma to his right shoulder, transferred by ambulance to a local hospital, X-rays found no broken bones; several riders involved in crash at 147km - Xabier Zandio (Caisse d’Epargne), Cristian Moreni (Cofidis) and Brett Lancaster (Milram) all suffered light cuts and scrapes; Mark Cavendish (T-Mobile) suffered cuts and scrapes after crashing with about 20km to go.

Jury decisions: No rulings.