Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen claimed his maiden Tour de France win when he powered to victory in the sixth stage yesterday.

Boasson Hagen benefited from an impressive work by in-form teammate Geraint Thomas to outsprint Australian Matt Goss at the end of a 226.5-kilometer effort from Dinan as Team Sky snatched their first Tour stage win.

Norwegian Thor Hushovd retained the overall leader's yellow jersey after coming home third.

Three-time champion Alberto Contador, who changed bikes twice with some 30 kilometers left, attacked the bunch in a short but demanding climb in the closing stages. But with his legs a bit stiff after a day in the rain, the Spaniard was reeled in.

All the favorites made it to the line in the same time as the day's winner except American Levi Leipheimer, who crashed with 5km to go as he slipped on a white line on the road side. The Radioshack rider crossed the line over a minute behind Hushovd in another bad day for the American outfit, who lost the services of Slovenian Janez Brajkovic on Wednesday following a crash.

Briton Mark Cavendish, who was gunning for a 17th Tour stage victory, took sixth place to stay in contention for the green jersey. The Manxman could not sustain the pace in the ascent as the peloton rode in driving rain and through occasional hailstorms from Brittany to Normandy.

On Wednesday, Belgian rider Phillippe Gilbert was left to lament a gear problem after he narrowly lost the fifth stage to British sprint ace Mark Cavendish. Gilbert had carved a gap through the pack and looked certain to clinch his second stage win of this year's Tour when Cavendish suddenly went past on the outside to just beat him at the line.

Gilbert credited Cavendish for his performance but felt things might have been different if he had not encountered a technical glitch that prevented him going into a harder gear that generates more speed.

"I'm not saying I would win against Cavendish because he's the fastest guy in the world," Gilbert said. "I came in from the back, pretty fast, but somebody touched my back wheel and I had to sprint on (gear) 12 and not 11 ... If I would have been lucky (able) to get the 11 on I could have won."

"All the doors were open for me in the sprint, it was like a path had been traced for me through the peloton," Gilbert said. "I should never have put the brakes on in the last 700 meters. Unfortunately someone touched my rear wheel at six or 700 meters from the line."