The race then began the climb of the "Hors catégorie" to . After descending south to the valley floor at Beaufort, the riders immediately began the "Hors catégorie" climb through and turned east into the Col du Pré at . Following a short descent to cross the Roselend Dam, the climb continued into the category 2 Cormet de Roselend at . The riders then faced an descent to the valley floor at Bourg-Saint-Maurice. After gently climbing through Séez and Montvalezan, the race then turned north for the category 1 climb to the finish line at La Rosière ski station, at an elevation of . Mark Cavendish finished an hour and five minutes behind Geraint Thomas, so was classified as outside the 31 minute and 27 second time limit for the stage. Mark Renshaw and Marcel Kittel also failed to finish within the time limit and were unable to continue the Tour. Meanwhile, Rick Zabel finished just outside the limit, but was allowed to continue by the race officials, having also been victim to a mechanical problem.