Not for the first time in this fascinating Tour de France the peloton, with all the main contenders and their teams in ultra-cautious mode and already looking towards the Alps at the end of this week, misjudged the chase and allowed the breakaway to roar home and take the plaudits.

In Tarbes on Sunday it was Frenchman Pierrick Fedrigo, of the Bbox Bouygues team, who outwitted his fellow escapee, Franco Pellizotti, on the ninth stage as they managed to fight off the peloton who came home en masse 35 seconds later.



Fedrigo, who played his part in the original break after just five kilometres much earlier in the day, will rightly glory in the triumph and the race's passage over the Col D'Aspin and the historic Tourmalet on a perfect summer's day was a sight to behold but essentially nothing changed as all of the overall leaders held station in the peloton.

All of which will result in another day in yellow for Rinaldo Nocentini when the race recommences on Tuesday after a rest day in Limoges with the Italian six seconds ahead of Alberto Contador and eight in front of Lance Armstrong.

Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins, whose Rolls-Royce engine had been purring away beautifully all tour, is still handily placed in fifth and has a week largely down in the flatlands to prepare for next weekend's assault on the Alps which will determine whether he can fulfil his dream of finishing in the top 10 of the final standings, something no British rider has achieved since Robert Millar in 1989 when the Scot finished 10th. If he could pull that off it would, in many ways, match anything he has achieved during his illustrious track career.

The relative inertia of the leaders, who always knew that any move by any one of them could be chased down during the 70km descent and run in from the summit of the Tourmalet, was evident in the final half-hour when, with 30km left, they were less than 2mins and 30 seconds behind the break. Ordinarily they would reckon to eat that up but this time there was no gain for anybody other than the points contenders who managed to get over the mountains in the main group.

Chief among them was Oscar Freire whose third place sees the Spaniard move up to third place in the points competition behind Britain's Mark Cavendish and Norway's Thor Hushovd, who stole away to earn 12 points in the intermediate sprints en route to Saint Girons on Saturday and now leads the race for the green jersey by 11 points.

After Monday's rest day, something of a misnomer as riders have to go for a minimum of a two-hour spin to avoid seizing up, Cavendish and his Columbia train must hit back hard on Tuesday and for the next two days after that.

All three stages present realistic chances of victory and Cavendish at present lacks the all-round ability of a Hushovd or a Freire to pick up points away from the pure sprints. Cavendish has to win big, and harvest maximum points whenever the opportunity presents itself. By the end of the week we will know whether the green jersey is work in progress or about to happen.

Tour de France details

Stage nine: 160.5km Saint-Gaudens-Tarbes

1 P Fedrigo (France, Bbox-Bouygues) 4h 05m 31s; 2 F Pellizotti (Italy, Liquigas) same time; 3 O Freire (Spain, Rabobank) at 34s; 4 S Ivanov (Russia, Katusha); 5 P Velits (Slovakia, Milram); 6 J J Rojas (Spain, Caisse d’Epargne); 7 G Van Avermaet (Belgium, Silence-Lotto); 8 G Lequatre (France, Agritubel); 9 A Ballan (Italy, Lampre); 10 N Roche (Rep of Ireland, AG2R) all same time.

Other: 41 B Wiggins (GB, Garmin) at 34s; 67 D Millar (GB, Garmin) same time; 80 C Wegelius (GB, Silence-Lotto) 2-08; 134 M Cavendish (GB, Columbia) 24-57.

Overall: 1 R Nocentini (Italy, AG2R) 34h 24m 21s; 2 A Contador (Spain, Astana) at 6s; 3 L Armstrong (US, Astana) 8; 4 L Leipheimer (US, Astana) 39; 5 Wiggins 46; 6 A Kloeden (Germany, Astana) 54; 7 T Martin (Germany, Columbia) 1-00; 8 C Vande Velde (US, Garmin) 1-24; 9 A Schleck (Luxembourg, Saxo Bank ) 1-49; 10 V Nibali (Italy, Liquigas ) 1-54.

Other: 50 Roche 16-45; 62 Millar 27-18; 80 Wegelius 35-40; 135 Cavendish 1h 13m 54s.