After an unofficial opening TTT yesterday night, in which LEOPARD TREK took 15th place, the race really started with a 146 km lap around the city of Huningue. A flat course, making for a bunch sprint. Ruslan Tleubayev, the young Kazakh rider of the Astana Continental team, won the stage, ahead of Scott Thwaited (Endura Racing) and Leopard Giorgio Brambilla, who was in the lead until 30 meters from the finish. Tleubayev is also the first leader of the race.

Fabio Silvestre earned himself the title of 'most combative rider' after being on the front for 70 kilometers and the team is also leading the Team Classification.

"Tomorrow is not an easy stage", says sports director Markus Zingen. "I expect a group of 50 to 70 riders to arrive at the finish together. We will mostly look to protect our GC men, Alexandr Pliuschin and Julian Kern."