With Tom Boonen (BEL) in yellow and Danielle Bennati (ITA) wearing Boonen’s green jersey, the peloton headed out of Huy, Belgium, today on a 207km stage to Saint-Quentin in northern France. The pack quickly separated into two sections after a break by Egoi Martinez (ESP/Discovery) at the 18.5 km mark , with a five-man break that included Bradley Wiggins (GBR/Cofidis), Christophe Megin (FRA/Francaise des Jeux), Laurent LeFevre (FRA/Bouygues Telecom), and Cedric Coutouly (FRA/Agritubel).

The break could not hold on for the entire stage and by the end, it was a spectacular sprint finish with Robbie McEwen (AUS) coming up with his second stage victory of this year’s Tour de France. Second and third place went to Isaac Galvez (EPS/Caisse d’Epargne/Illes Ballears) and Oscar Freire (ESP/Rabobank) respectively. Thor Hushovd (NOR/Credit Agricole) took fourth, with Tom Boonen (BEL/QuickStep in fifth). It was enough to keep Boonen in the yellow jersey, but Robbie McEwen is now the holder of the green jersey for points.

One interesting note from today’s finish: Just before the finish line, Thor Hushovd’s team was trying to position him for the win, but his lead-out man, Julian Dean (NZL) crashed just moments before the finish putting Hudhovd in an awkward position to try to take the win. Sprints are dangerous business and it seems that Hushovd has been right in the thick of the danger all week!

At the end of today’s stage, here are the standings in the general classification:

1. Tom Boonen (BEL) Quickstep
2. Michael Rogers (AUS) T-Mobile at 05″
3. George Hincapie (USA) Discovery at 05″
4. Thor Hushovd (NOR) Credit Agricole at 07″
5. Egoi Martinez (ESP) Discovery at 10″
6. Robbie McEwen (AUS) Davitamon-Lotto at 12″
7. Paolo Salvoldelli (ITA) Discovery at 15″
8. Danielle Bennati (ITA) Lampre at 15″
9. Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak at 16″
10. Vladimir Karpets (RUS) Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears at 17″