This was the day when the main peleton got it wrong.

We often marvel at how well they time the chase of any breakaway riders but today four riders escaped, 38km from the finish line in Dax and clung on to win by less than one second.

The Italian Paolo Bettini took the first Tour de France stage win of his career but if the course had been even a few metres further he would have been denied by the rapidly approaching pack.