The Tour comes alive in the Alps. Menchov’s team mate Michael Rasmussen took the stage victory and the overall lead in this years race. Rasmussen showed the rest of the field how to climb in this stage. Denis gave a controlled performance despite many of his rivals for GC attacking. Riding with Carlos Sastre, Denis lost less than 20 seconds to the main contenders. He finished 9th on the stage and is 10th overall at 3′ 39″.