In a rain-soaked day, Tom Boonen takes the stage win, while Tyler Farrar takes advantages of time bonuses to step into the leader’s jersey.

Most of the riders would probably have preferred to spend the day in their comfy buses rather than brave the rain and temperatures under 50 F. The first several kilometers of the race were primarily spent getting the riders the proper clothing for the conditions. Scott Nydam took advantage of the confusion to make an attack at the 5 km mark. Steven Cozza briefly thought about joining Nydam, but thought better, and stayed behind to support teammate Tyler Farrar, who was only 2 seconds off of the lead. Johnny Sundt (Kelly Benefits Strategies) tried to bridge to Nydam, but never quite caught up.

Nydam held on to the lead through the two KOMs. Sundt held on for second place points on both climbs before sitting back and rejoining the field.

Once the riders were out of the mountains and heading for Sacramento, it was a matter of when, not if, Nydam would be reeled in. Team Slipstream focused on getting Tyler Farrar to the front of the peloton to capture as much of the time bonuses as he could. He took third in the first intermediate sprint and second in the final sprint, putting two seconds in front of Fabian Cancellera and in the overall lead.

In the final circuits, yesterday’s winner Juan Jose Haedo flatted. Cancellera was a team player, and gave Haedo his wheel. Haedo managed to end up in 5th, but it was Boonen, Heinrich Haussler (Gerolsteiner) and Mario Cipollino (Rock Racing) in the first three spots.

Tyler Farrar finished 6th for the day, but he takes over the yellow jersey from Cancellera.

The High Road team still leads overall, but CSC is only 2 seconds behind and Slipstream Chipotle is right in there, too.