Four climbs of the first category had to be mastered today on the 180-kilometer route to Aigle. The Slovenian Simon Spilak (Katusha) coped best with the adverse weather conditions. In the final meters of the stage, he prevailed against fellow escapee Chris Froome (Sky) and thus also took the lead in the overall standings. Third place went to Portuguese world champion Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida).
Spilak and Froome broke away from the group of favorites on the last climb of the day and quickly built up a lead. They were able to keep it to the finish. Both were also able to keep Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) at a distance, who had initially parried Froome's attack, but was later unable to follow and was also unable to catch up on the descent to the finish.
The first part of the stage was marked by a seven-man lead group, which headed into the first climb of the day with a lead of almost six minutes. As a result, however, the group increasingly disintegrated. When the favorites got serious, it happened to them. But not just about her. The big surprise of the day was Colombia's Rigoberto Uran (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), who doesn't seem to be in much form with a week to go before the Giro d'Italia starts. He had to tear early on and let the other favorites go. As expected before the stage, the previous overall leader Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge) had nothing to do with the outcome of the stage.