After 4 kilometers, the Frenchman Walter Bénéteau made the first attempt to break away . Three kilometers later, Jens Voigt from Team CSC and the Dutchman Karsten Kroon from Team Rabobank tried to catch up with Bénéteau, who at that time was about ten seconds ahead of the field. Shortly afterwards, Bénéteau was caught. Through further attempts to break away, the leading group increased to a quintet with the French Samuel Dumoulin and Franck Renier . The goal of the outliers was to win the stage, Jens Voigt even speculated on the yellow jersey , which he could have achieved with time bonuses . However, the top group was overtaken by the racing peloton at kilometer 110 shortly before the third sprint classification .
Towards the third intermediate sprint, the pace of the field increased. Then Mario Cipollini and Bradley McGee had difficulties and had to let go of the big field at times. The Norwegian Thor Hushovd from the French team Crédit Agricole was able to take two seconds away from overall leader Fabian Cancellara in a direct duel in the second intermediate sprint.
After the intermediate sprints, Marc Wauters and Jakob Piil were able to break away from the main field and at times gain a lead of 90 seconds. Shortly before the finish, however, the two were overtaken and there was a mass sprint in which Jaan Kirsipuu from Estonia took the win ahead of the Norwegian Thor Hushovd. Petacci and Zabel had no chance.
