Frenchman Thomas Voeckler timed his move to perfection to clinch a maiden win in the Tour de France after an early breakaway surprised the sprinters' teams.
Bouygues Telecom rider Voeckler attacked a group of fugitives with less than five kilometres to go in the 196.5-km stage from Cap d'Agde to Perpignan, beating Russian Mikhail Ignatiev by seven seconds.
Briton Mark Cavendish won the peloton sprint to take third place, also seven seconds adrift of Voeckler, according to provisional results.
Swiss Fabian Cancellara retained his overall leader's yellow jersey after finishing safely in the pack and still leads American Lance Armstrong by a fraction of a second.
Ireland's Nicolas Roche finished in 44th position and lies in 48th place overall - 3 mins 16 secs off the lead.
Frenchmen Anthony Geslin, Voeckler, Belarussian Yauheni Hutarovich, Dutchman Albert Timmer, Ignatiev and Poland's Marcin Sapa broke away in the early stages and built a maximum gap of nine minutes.
Cavendish's Columbia team took control of the peloton too late, and despite getting help from Agritubel and Garmin-Slipstream, failed to catch the breakaway group.
Dutch climber Robert Gesink suffered a crash in the descent of the Col de Treilles. He quickly got back onto his bike but despite of the help of two team mates, failed to catch the peloton.
With the wind blowing sideways, Cancellara's Saxo Bank stepped up a gear some 62 km from the finish and the move blasted the bunch.
Giro winner Denis Menchov failed to keep up the pace but later rejoined the front pack, while former world champion Tom Boonen, who suffered a puncture, had to wait until some 30 km before the line to catch the pack.
Gesink, with his elbow and knee bleeding, was some seven minutes off the pace when the main bunch crossed the line.
