Fabian Cancellara found himself on the attack in unusual terrain when he mixed it up with the climbers in the hard stage 9 of the Tour de France. The Swiss was pleased to comew away with second after a day that should have been too hard for him.

The second of the three days in the Vosges Mountains on Sunday crowned a new leader and saw a remarkable solo effort by World Time Trial Champion Tony Martin (OPQS) as he led the race from the early kilometers to the end.

Tony Martin and Alessandro De Marchi of Cannondale bolted off the front soon after the first serious breakaway attempt was nullified. When they had gained 40 seconds, and it was apparant they would stay ahead, a large 25-rider chase group formed, which included Fabian Cancellara. The two breakaways forged ahead and would ultimately prosper to the finish, while behind Astana blithely let the yellow jersey slip away.

“It was a crazy start, we were not represented in the beginning, and so I made a big move to jump into the breakaway," Cancellara said. "But when I looked around to see who was there I saw only skinny, small climbers!

"I had to suffer a lot on the last climb, I was dropped, and had to really give everything to come back to this group and then recover for the end. I got the best out of the situation with a second place. Tony [Martin] was in the front and it was not possible to catch him. He did a fantastic ride.”

When all the tough climbs were conquered, and only a long downhill and a flat run in to the finish were left, the situation on the road revealed a solo Tony Martin, who much earlier had dropped De Marchi, followed by 20 chasers, who despite a valiant chase led by three Europcar teammates, never came closer than two minutes to Martin.

Martin would cross the line, finalizing a gutsy stage win, as Cancellara battled back to the chasing group, which now contained the virtual leader on the road, Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Belisol).

Cancellara craftily moved into fourth wheel as the chasers wound up the sprint for second. Greg van Avermaet (BMC) jumped first, but Cancellara had his wheel and was able to come around, barely edging his wheel past the BMC rider over the line.

“What can I say? The Tour is quite hard," he said. "It was a surviving stage today. I am happy – it is my daughter’s second birthday today and I get the second place! That sprint was for my daughter: happy birthday Elina!

"It’s nice, I am satisfied - I am always riding for the win, but with what I had today, I did my best - I did my maximum.

"I spoke with Tony [Gallopin] in the race and I found out that he was the virtual leader. I am happy for him to get the yellow jersey! In the end we spoke that we can at least get something from this breakaway; I was very tired and had to play my cards right, but at least second is something for the team at the end of today.”

The yellow jersey fittingly rests on French shoulders ahead of Bastille Day tomorrow, as former race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) rolled across the line with the peloton, seven minutes and 46 seconds later, and dropped to second in the GC.

The rest of Trek Factory Racing finished safely, all in the same time as the peloton, and look next to the La Planche des Belles Filles summit finish tomorrow, the first decisive mountain test of the Tour de France.