Not a good day for the race leaders and current favorites. The Tour hit the mountains and the leaders were left in the dust by what was essentially a two-man break most of the day.

Juan Miguel Mercado (ESP) and Cyril Dessel (FRA) shared the work most of the day and the peloton never had a chance of catching them. At the finish, Dessel and Mercado sprinted to the line for yet another photo finish. Mercado took the stage, but Dessel took the yellow jersey and the polka-dot King of The Mountains jersey. Mercado, as second in the polka dot standings, will wear the KOM jersey in tomorrow’s 220.5 km stage from Tarbes to Val d’Aran.

Tomorrow will be an even tougher stage than today, with a beyond category climb and four (count ’em – 4!) first category climbs!

So at the end of today’s stage, here are the standings for the yellow jersey so far:

1. Cyril Dessel (FRA) AG2R
2. Juan Miguel Mercado (ESP) Agritubel at 2’34”
3. Sergei Gonchar (UKR) T-Mobile at 3’45”
4. Christian Moreni (ITA) Cofidis at 3’51”
5. Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak at 4’45″
6. Michael Rogers (AUS) T-Mobile at 4’53″
7. Inigo Landaluze (ESP Euskatel at 5’22”
8. Patrik Sinkewitz (GER) T-Mobile at 5’30″
9. Andreas Kloden (GER) T-Mobile at 5’35″″
10. Vladimir Karpets (RUS) Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears at 5’37“