Sylvain Chavanel reclaimed the race leader's yellow jersey with victory on stage seven of the Tour de France.
France's Chavanel (QuickStep) won his second stage of the 97th Tour on the 165.5-kilometre route from Tournus to Station des Rousses.
Fabian Cancellara's capitulation in the mid-mountains handed the maillot jaune away and Chavanel was the man to benefit after attacking at the foot of the day's final climb, the 14km-long second category Lamoura.
Rafael Valls Ferri (Footon-Servetto) was second, 57 seconds behind, with Rabobank's Juan Manuel Garate third, 30 seconds further adrift.
Ireland’s Nicolas Roche finished amongst the favourites in 11th position, one minute 47 seconds behind Chavanel and has now moved into the top ten, in eighth position overall, 2min 28sec behind the yellow jersey.
With the finish coming at the end of a plateau, none of the general classification contenders deemed an attack worthwhile, meaning Tour favourite and two-time winner Alberto Contador (Astana), seven-time winner Lance Armstrong (Team RadioShack), Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) and Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) were among those content to take a watchful approach at the front of the peloton.
Tomorrow's 189km eighth stage from Station des Rousses to Morzine-Avoriaz is sure to be where the race for the yellow jersey explodes for the first time.
Tour de France Stage Seven Result:
1 Sylvain Chavanel (France/Quick-Step) 4:22:52
2 Rafael Valls (Spain/Footon) +57"
3 Juan Manuel Garate (Spain/Rabobank) +1:27"
4 Thomas Voeckler (France/Bbox) +1:40"
5 Mathieu Perget (France/Caisse d'Epargne) same
6 Daniel Moreno (Spain/Omega Pharma) same
7 Pierrick Fedrigo (France/Bbox - Bouygues) +1:47"
8 Ryder Hesjedal (Canada/Garmin) same
9 Ruben Plaza (Spain/Caisse d'Epargne) same
10 Eros Capecchi (Italy/Footon) same
11 Nicolas Roche (Ireland/AG2R) same
Tour de France Overall Standings:
1 Sylvain Chavanel (France/Quick-Step) 33:01:23
2 Cadel Evans (Australia/BMC Racing) +1:25"
3 Ryder Hesjedal (Canada/Garmin) +1:32"
4 Andy Schleck (Luxembourg/Saxo Bank) +1:55"
5 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazakhstan/Astana) +2:17"
6 Alberto Contador (Spain/Astana) +2:26"
7 Jurgen Van den Broeck (Belgium/Omega) +2:28"
8 Nicolas Roche (Ireland/AG2R) same
9 Johan Vansummeren (Belgium/Garmin) +2:33"
10 Denis Menchov (Russia/Rabobank) +2:35"
