Tour de France:Nicki Sorensen broke clear late on from a long-time breakaway group of seven riders to win Stage 12 of the Tour de France as Britain's sprint king Mark Cavendish spent a well-deserved day in the peloton.
Green jersey holder Cavendish claimed the two previous stages but was happy to kick back today, although he did win a sprint finish in the peloton to come home eighth and extend his lead in the sprinters' classification over Thor Hushovd.
By that time, Sorensen was lapping up the praise after winning his first stage in the Tour in his 10th year as a professional.
The Dane, who rides for Saxo Bank, made a solo raid for home five and a half kilometres out and could not be stopped, winning the 211.5km jaunt from Tonnerre to Vittel in four hours 52 minutes and 24 seconds.
The remnants of the breakaway septet came home 48 seconds later, Bouygues Telecom's Laurent Lefevre finishing second ahead of Liquigas' Franco Pellizotti.
Rinaldo Nocentini, who retains the yellow jersey for a fifth night, was in the bosom of the peloton as were Astana duo Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong, his nearest rivals for the maillot jaune.
It meant there was no change at the top of the general classification but with Cavendish beating Hushovd to eighth, the Manx rider sees his lead over the Norwegian in the sprinters' standings grow to 10 points.
Cavendish, who already has four stage victories to his name this Tour, was content staying in the peloton after his exploits of the past two days.
"We needed a break," the Team Columbia rider told French TV station France 2.
"It's a long day every day and the (Columbia) guys are only human. They can only do so much. We need to be fresh to get through the Alps.
"The focus is on Paris now."
Sorensen, a two-time national champion, found great energy levels at the business end of the stage to cruise to victory.
"I'm extremely happy," he said. "It's true, I don't get many chances for myself at the end.
"This time I had it and I was dogged at the end."
The seven-man breakaway group, that included Sorensen, Lefevre, Pellizotti, Sylvain Calzati, polka-dot jersey holder Egoi Martinez, Markus Fothen and Remi Pauriol, had sped away around 80km into the day's racing.
They soon settled on a cushion of around four minutes to the peloton, who proved unwilling to narrow that gap all day.
By that time, Cavendish had beaten Hushovd to maximum points at an intermediary sprint, extending his green jersey lead to nine points.
The lead group stuck together over a series of comfortable category four and five climbs. And once they had cleared the Cote de Bourmont 40km from the line, they knew they were unlikely to be stopped, with the gap still at just under four minutes.
With 22km remaining, Sorensen bolted clear and he was followed gamely by Calzati. They quickly built up a 17-second lead.
France's Calzati was always going to struggle to live with the Dane and that was how it proved as Sorensen sprung his rival 5.5km out.
He was away and clear, and continued to extend his advantage right until the line.
Calzati and Pauriol ended up trailing off the chasing six, with Lefevre beating Pellizotti in a sprint for second.
Pellizotti's efforts in the lead group today allowed him to close the gap to Martinez in the King of the Mountains standings to 17 points (88-71).
The peloton came home five minutes 58 seconds after Sorensen.
Rui Alberto Faria da Costa pulled out of the Tour at the start of the day, having torn ligaments in his shoulder in a crash yesterday.
And during the stage, Lampre's Angelo Furlan, Francaise Des Jeux's Jerome Coppel and Romain Feillu of Agritubel also quit the race, leaving the field down to 166 riders.