Weather: Warm, sunny skies, highs in upper 80s, head-crosswinds

Stage winner: Sandy Casar (FDJeux) attacked a four-man breakaway with just under 3km to go only to be reeled in by three chasers. He remained in the lead postion and accelerated off the front on the rising finish to snag France’s second stage-win of this Tour. Casar shook off a fall early in the stage when a dog ran into the peloton and the victory took the sting off losing into Marseille by inches.

Race leader: Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel) enjoyed his first full day in the yellow jersey, but second-place rider Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) took back three seconds after gapping the Spaniard and third-place Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel) on the rising finish to trim the difference to 1:50 going into Saturday’s decisive time trial.

Green jersey: Tom Boonen (QuickStep-Innergetic) led the main pack across the line to widen his lead to Robbie Hunter (Barloworld) to 234 to 210.

King of the Mountains: The break ate up all the day’s points. Juan Mauricio Soler (Barloworld) retained his lead to Contador at 206-128 points.

Best Young Rider: Contador retained the white jersey to Soler to 13:31.

Best team: Discovery Channel retained its 16:12 lead to Team CSC.

Lanterne Rouge: Wim Vansevenant (Predictor-Lotto) remained last at 3h45:01 back.

Most aggressive rider: Casar earned the day’s prize, with the eight-member panel saying “in the face of all adversity, he collected all his necessary forces to collect his first stage victory in the Tour.”

Top American: Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel) was 20th at 8:37 back and remained at 2:49 back.

The peloton: No abandons or overnight evictions. The peloton remained 141 riders.

Medical report:Casar (FDJeux) and Willems (Liquigas), both crashed at 28km, minor cuts and scrapes.Hinault (Credit Agricole) breathing problems.Burghardt (T-Mobile) breathing problems.Gadret (Ag2r) headache.Azanza (Euskaltel) digestive troubles.Quinziato (Liquigas) digestive problems.Boogerd (Rabobank) insect bite

Jury decisions: no report

Forecast: Mostly sunny, highs in the mid 80s, 20-25kph westerly tailwinds.

Tomorrow’s stage: Cognac to Angoulême, 55.5km individual time trial.