A chronological recap of stage ten, a transition day in the sun as the peloton visited Marseille.

11:10 - Some heavy traffic traffic in Tallard means the stage has started ten minutes late but we are now underway with 171 riders.

225km - Juan Jose COBO ACEBO (Saunier Duval) takes an early tumble but his swiftly back on his bike with no serious damage.

220km - Simon GERRANS (AG2R), Claudio CORIONI (Lampre), Anthony CHARTEAU (Credit Agricole), Manuel QUINZIATO (Liquigas), Philippe GILBERT (FDJ) and Andriy GRIVKO (Milram) have launched an early attack. They had a 35 second lead but the Bouygues Telecom team of our three star selection Thomas Voeckler are chasing hard and they have halved the gap.

210km - This looks to be the break of the day. Rabobank have replaced Bouygues at the front of the peloton and the lead of the six escapees is now 70 seconds.

195km - Or maybe not. Gerolsteiner, Bouygues and Cofidis have done the hard yards and the lead is down to 15 seconds.

190km - The move that started at 2km mark ended after 37km. Fabian WEGMANN (GST) attempted a counter-attack but that was short lived.

180km - The average speed for the first hour was a riproaring 48.3km/h.

175km - A new seven-man escape group has formed featuring today's tip - Voeckler. He is joined by both Sylvain and Sebastien CHAVANEL, Frederik WILLEMS (LIQ), Amets TXURRUKA (EUS), Freddy BICHOT (AGR) and Daniele BENNATI (LAM).

172km - The escape didn't make it to the top of the 3.3km climb of the Côte de Châteauneuf-Val-Saint Donat where Marcus Burghardt, fresh from his incident with the dog yesterday, took the points ahead of Xavier Florencio and Yaroslav Popovych.

160km - Burghardt has continued with his attack after the climb and is a minute clear of the peloton led by AG2R and Bouygues.

150km - Burghardt now leads the main pack by two minutes but he is being chased by a group of 10 including the "usual suspects" - Jens VOIGT (CSC) & Juan Antonio FLECHA (RAB).

148km - Paolo Bossoni (LAM), Patrice Halgand (CA), Staf Scheirlinckx (COF), Michal Albasini and Aleksandre Kuschynski (LIQ), Sandy Casar (FDJ), Cedric Vasseur (QSI) and Andriy Grivko (MRM) are also in the group that has joined Burghardt.

147km - This is the decisive break with the gap 4:20 at the intermediate sprint in Oraison. Vasseur crossed ahead of Givko and Bossoni.

140km - The average speed for the opening two hours has been a lively is 45.7km/h. The gap is now 5:50. We will give you a rundown on the credentials of the 11 escapees over the next 105km or so before the final 35km where there are two third category climbs and the group will begin to attack each other.

130km - Voigt has the best credentials of the escape group. The CSC veteran won stage 13 to Montelimar last year and stage 16 to Sarran in 2001. He also triumphed in this year's Critérium International. He was third at the fourth cat Côte de Villedieu behind Halgand and Schierlinckx.

120km - Flecha won stage 11 in Toulouse in 2003 when he celebrated by releasing a pretend arrow from a bow in homage to his family name. The Spaniard won't mind today's 30+ degrees heat and has also produced good performances in Paris-Roubaix, finishing in the top four for the past three years. The gap is now 9:30.

110km - 36-year-old Vasseur won stage five in 1997 in La Charte when he was a member of Chris Boardman's Gan team. His father Alain also won a stage of the Tour but he has won just once in Quickstep colours, the minor GP d'Isbergues last year. The gap is 10:45.

100km - Halgand is another 30+ in the breakaway. He won stage 10 in Pau in 2002 with the Jean Delatour team. His victories in Credit Agricole colours have been limited to stages in the Route du Sud and Tour de l'Ain. The lead group of 11 are 11:02 ahead of the peloton.

90km - You may have seen Burghardt on your news bulletins last night after his incident with the labrador yesterday. He is just 24 and won the Belgian mini-classic Gent-Wevelgem earlier this year. 10:35 is the advantage of the lead group.

87km - Alexandre Vinokourov calls for medical assistance. The GC favourites are having an easy day with Voigt the highest placed of the escapees in 36th, 23:39 behind Michael Rasmussen.

80km - Liquigas will be looking to do the 1-2 punch on the climbs as they are the only team with two riders in the group. Albasini has one pro victory in his home tour, the Tour of Switzerland, while Kuschynski is the first man from Belarus to ride the Tour de France and was part of the escape group on stage one that was caught with 30km to go. The gap is now 10:07.

75km - The first three at the second intermediate sprint at Saint-Maximin-La-Sainte-Baume were Scheirlinckx then Voigt and Bossoni.

70km - The Ukrainian Grivko was also involved in that breakaway on stage one and is only 23 years of age. He is riding his third tour as Milram search for their first stage win of the Tour on a day when both German national broadcasters, ARD and ZDF, have stoped TV coverage of the race after German T-Mobile rider Patrik Sinkewitz tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone. The gap is 10:31.

60km - Casar could be the dark horse here, after all he was our two-star selection this morning. The 28-year-old was sixth in the Giro last year underlining his climbing credentials. He also wore the white jersey in the 2004 Tour when he finished 16th on GC. Those cat 3 climbs won't worry the man from Yvelines. The gap remains steady - 10:30.

50km - Staf Scheirlinckx is in his third year with Cofidis. The 28-year-old Belgian, who was previously with Palmans and Flanders, was tenth in Paris-Roubaix last year. He is yet to win a professional race. The gap is 10:35.

40km - Lampre's Paolo Bossoni is the 11th member of the escape. He won stage six in the Vuelta way back in 2000 when with Cantina Tollo. He has won third one-day Italian races whilst with Tacconi, Vini Caldirola and Tenax. They are the contenders, now let's get ready for the racing! The gap is 10:47 with 15 of the final 35km consisting of cat 3 climbing.

35km - The leaders are just starting the Côte des Bastides, a 7.5km ascent with an average gradient of 2.9%.

32km - Jakob Piil was the last winner in Marseille in 2003 and it's another CSC rider, Voigt who makes the first attack.

30km - This time it's Halgand and Albasini immediately latches onto the wheel. Casar bridges the gap and there are three ahead.

28km - At the summit: Halgand-Albasini-Casar have eight seconds on Burghardt-Voigt-Scheirlinckx-Vasseur. They have 10km before the start of the Col de la Gineste.

25km - The veterans Voigt and Vasseur have joined the leaders on the descent and we have five riders with a 20 second gap on their fellow escapees.

20km - It looks as if Voigt-Vasseur-Halgand-Albasini-Casar will contest the stage. 35 seconds is their advantage over Burghardt-Scheirlinckx-Kuschynski-Flecha-Bossoni. Grivko has shot his bolt completely.

17km - The leading quintet are at the foot of the Col de la Gineste with a 41 second advantage.

16km - Casar lost touch but has now clawed his way back to the leaders.

12km - The five at the front are working together and will contest the stage with their lead now over a minute.

10km - Voigt and Albasini have been doing the bulk of the work on the front. The peloton are 11:16 behind.

5km - Halgand has won today's combativity prize. The leading five remain together and working well.

4km - Voigt attacks !!

3km - Short-lived from the German and it's now Halgand followed by Casar.

2km - All bar Casar have launched an attack but none have stuck. It's cat and mouse now.

1km - They go under the flamme rouge together and at low speed.

16:35 - There is no movements until the final 400m when Vasseur springs clear on the right. He holds off Casar's by the width of a tyre.

16:35 - The top ten is completed by Albasini, Halgand, Voigt, Scheirlinckx at 36", Bossoni at 36", Burghardt at 1:01, Kuschynski at 2:34 and Flecha at 2:34.

16:45 - Sébastien Chavanel edges out Tom Boonen for 12th place, 10:39 behind, but the Belgian will stretch his lead in the points competition with Erik Zabel a couple of spots further back.

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