De Gendt was part of an early break in the company of Rein Taaramae Cofidis and the pair quickly established a lead in excess of 12 minutes over a peloton that was more than content to let them to it. On the slopes of the Col de Vence, De Gendt pulled away from the Estonian and went to reach the Promenade des Angalis over six minutes clear, while John Degenkolb Project 1t4i led the peloton home all of behind. It was a nice stage and a nice finish.
While De Gendt and Taaramae were locked in their private duel up front, there was scarcely a murmur from the overall contenders on the way up the 9-kilometre climb as Team Sky controlled affairs in support of Wiggins.
With 54 largely downhill kilometres then separating the summit of the Col de Vence from the finish, it appeared as though what had already been a low-key stage would simply peter out on the road to Nice. The script was altered slightly on the way down, however, as Leipheimer fell twice on the descent and surrendered all hopes of a high overall finish.
The veteran American first lost ground when he took a tumble as the peloton slowed to tackle a sharp left hand bend with 31km to go. With Movistar setting the pace on the front for Alejandro Valverde, Leipheimer had five Omega Pharma-QuickStep teammates for company as he desperately gave chase, a minute down on the pack.
In spite of taking a number of risks on the sinuous descent, they were struggling to make any inroads into their deficit, and a second crash with 16km to go put paid to any scant hopes Leipheimer had of making contact. Leipheimer can have justifiable cause for frustration at the nature of his accident, for the crash happened as his teammate scrambled to avoid a motorbike that had stopped just beyond a blind right hand turn.
