Sastre conquers Alpe d'Huez, Evans in run

Sastre gradually built up his lead from 23sec with 9km to go to over 2min but he may regret losing valuable seconds as he overdid the celebrations with metres to go.

After crossing the first major climb, the Col du Galibier, together the peloton containing all the race favourites was shaken up by the CSC team's bid to eliminate a few of their challengers on the more difficult Croix de la Fer.

At 29.9km long with an average gradient of five percent, it is considered a tough ascent. But it became even more demanding when Stuart O'Grady, then Fabian Cancellara upped the tempo at the front for CSC.

Cancellara's long pull at the front was an exercise in pain for the likes of Evans and his fellow contenders, all of whom however managed to hold on to come over the summit next to the yellow jersey of Frank Schleck.

It also appeared to have the effect of tiring out some of Schleck's CSC teammates, as well as closing the advantage some early escapees had on the yellow jersey bunch.