Britain's David Millar came agonisingly close to claiming the third Tour de France stage victory of his career as Norway's Thor Hushovd won a sprint finish to win Stage Six.

Millar, who rides for Garmin-Slipstream, was part of an early three-man breakaway group that had grown to four before he launched a solo bid for the win with 29 kilometres remaining. The Scot was swallowed up by the peloton just over a kilometre from the line and Hushovd took the wheel of Oscar Freire before powering through to win the 181km stage from Girona to Barcelona.

"I rode more with my heart than my head," said 32-year-old Millar.

Freire finished second while Spaniard Jose Joaquin Rojas and Germany's Gerald Ciolek - the other two riders to compete in the sprint finish - ended third and fourth respectively.

Fabian Cancellara was 10th to retain the yellow jersey while the other big guns high up in the general classification - including Astana duo Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador - were among the first group in the peloton.

Cervelo's Hushovd did not quite do enough to take the green jersey off Britain's Mark Cavendish, who came home in 16th place.

Cavendish is now just one point ahead of Hushovd while Stephane Auge, part of the early breakaway involving Millar and Sylvain Chavanel, takes the polka-dot jersey off Jussi Veikkanen.

There were plenty of thrills and spills on a day when conditions were tough owing to intermittent spells of rain. In the final eight kilometres there were two big crashes that split the peloton. Belgium's Tom Boonen was involved in the second and he struggled to finish.

Hushovd admitted it had been hard going, saying: "It was a nervy stage, it rained, the roads were very slippery.

"Fortunately I was able to be in front of it all. It was hard for us, the sprinters, to keep up. It is the first victory for our Cervelo team this Tour. We have reached our first objective."