Evans remains second in the overall standings six seconds behind yellow jersey holder Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg. American Chris Vande Velde of the Garmin-Chipotle team is third, 44 seconds behind.

"Cadel had a heavy fall, that's what I know," said Silence-Lotto's sports director Hendrik Redant.

"He's lost skin on his elbow and has torn his shorts and jersey but when he came past the team car, he didn't have anything to say.

"He appeared calm and we'll just get to the end of the stage and have a consultation with the team's medical staff."

Although he is still not a favorite to win in Paris, Ricco showed that in a race without an overwhelming figure, he could shake the hierarchy and be a permanent threat.

Three men took their chance after just 22 kilometers of 224-km stage from Toulouse to Bagneres-de-Bigorre.

Aleksandr Kuschynski of Belarus, German Sebastian Lang and France's Nicolas Jalabert built a 14-minute gap but it was down to 10 minutes at the foot of the category-one Col de Peyresourde.

Jalabert was the first to be dropped, soon followed by Kuschynski and it was Lang who reached the summit first with an advantage of 5:25.

In the peloton, struggling sprinters such as Robbie McEwen, Mark Cavendish and Oscar Freire were discarded and regrouped to climb at their own pace.

Dubbed "The Cobra", Ricco was the first big name to shake up the peloton on the Col d'Aspin but Evans's Silence-Lotto team also stepped up a gear to catch the climber.

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