Sanchez takes late stage win

The Spaniard, who rides for Caisse d'Epargne, fell back on the shoulder of Sandy Casar about 100 metres out before breezing past the Frenchman to take glory in some style at the end of the 176.5km hike from Andorra La Vella to St Girons.

Sanchez, Casar and two others - Mikel Astarloza and Vladimir Efimkin - had made a decisive break on the final climb, up Col d'Agnes, allowing the quartet to battle it out at the death.

The green and polka dot jerseys changed hands but Rinaldo Nocentini kept hold the maillot jaune for another 24 hours after finishing in the peloton, just less than two minutes behind the leading four.

The rest of the yellow-jersey hopefuls, such as Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong, were also in tow in the main group at the end of the second stage in the Pyrenees.

Britain's Mark Cavendish, who finished way down the field after a tough day in the mountains, saw rival Thor Hushovd win two intermediary sprints midway through the day, meaning the Norwegian takes the green jersey.

Christophe Kern also took enough climbing points to nab the polka-dot King of the Mountains jersey off Brice Feillu, the winner of Friday's stage.

Nocentini was delighted to still be in yellow after being dropped for six kilometres part way through the climb up Col d'Agnes. His AG2R La Mondiale team, led by the gritty Stephane Goubert, helped pull the Italian back into contention before the descent.

"It was tiring up that big climb and I have to thank all the team - they worked so hard," Nocentini told France 2.

"We managed to catch up the group in the final kilometres (of the climb). After that, it was better and I've been able to conserve the maillot jaune."