 Jurgen Van den Broeck of Lotto – Belisol, Movistar Team rider Alejandro Valverde, and Rabobank's Robert Gesink encountered difficulties at this point, and would lose over a minute by the end of the day. Sørensen and Orica – GreenEDGE's Michael Albasini were the last of the leaders to be caught, with just over 5 km (3.1 mi) remaining. Team Sky continued to break the peloton apart, and by the time the leaders had reached the flamme rouge, only five riders remained at the front – Wiggins and his teammate Chris Froome, BMC Racing Team's Cadel Evans, Liquigas – Cannondale rider Vincenzo Nibali and Rein Taaramäe of Cofidis – for the closing kilometre. Evans hit the final corner first, but Froome looked strongest on the steepest part of the climb, and he eventually went past him and Wiggins, accelerating away to a two-second time gap over his rivals. With RadioShack – Nissan's Fabian Cancellara losing almost two minutes on the day, he surrendered the yellow jersey to Wiggins, who became the fifth British rider to wear the jersey, and first since David Millar in 2000. Froome assumed the polka-dot jersey thanks to the stage victory, while Taaramäe took the white jersey from Evans' teammate Tejay van Garderen.
