Tour de France: Spain's Luis Leon Sanchez claimed his maiden Tour de France victory when he took the seventh stage with a bold attack in the finale of a 159-km ride from Brioude to Aurillac.
The Caisse d'Epargne rider attacked in the descent of the Col de St Jean de Donne and never looked back, beating German Stefan Schumacher by six seconds. The German won the sprint of the favourites' group to beat Italian Filippo Pozzato.
Luxembourg's Kim Kirchen retained the overall leader's yellow jersey after finishing in Schumacher's group.
"We defended it very well and I'll have it for another day tomorrow," said the Team Columbia rider. "I have a lot of confidence and this morning I had recuperated very well."
Kirchen leads Australian Cadel Evans by six seconds in the overall standings, with Schumacher third 16 seconds adrift.
Italy's Damiano Cunego, who was one of the favourites for the overall victory, suffered in the last ascent of the day and lost 33 seconds to Kirchen, dropping to 17th overall.
Meanwhile, Manuel Beltran of the Liquigas team has provided the first positive drugs test of this year's tour.
Beltran, 37, was 26th in the overall standings but will be withdrawn from the race after he tested positive following the first stage from Brest to Plumelec last Saturday.
The Spaniard has three Tour stage wins to his name, all of them team time trials with Lance Armstrong's U.S. Postal and Discovery Channel teams in 2003, 2004 and 2005.