Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux - Gap - 162.5 km

Garmin-Cervelo's Hushovd formed part of a breakaway group of 16 riders which led the stage from around the 87km mark to the finish line.

And the world champion launched a final sprint off the back wheel of team-mate Ryder Hesjedal to take the line at Gap defeating promising Team Sky rider Boasson Hagen with relative easiness.

Australian Cadel Evans and Spaniard Alberto Contador took a big taste out of Thomas Voeckler's lead in the general classification at the cost of yellow jersey rivals Andy and Frank Schleck.

Evans and Contador both finished Stage 16 twenty seconds ahead of Frank Schleck, and over a minute ahead of his brother Andy.

The relatively flat 162km between St-Paul-Trois-Chateaux and Gap was punctuated by a Category 2 climb up Col de Manse, the summit coming 11km from the finish line.

And it was on the ascent up Col de Manse that Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) laid down his credentials for a fourth Tour de France win, attacking on a punchy climb and leaving the Schlecks for dead.

Only Evans (BMC Racing) and Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) were able to respond, and the trio held onto their advantage on a treacherous descent in the rainy conditions down to the finish.

Evans even managed to pull away on the final straight to narrow the gap between himself and Voeckler (Europcar) to 1'45", overtaking Frank Schleck (Leopard Trek) into second place in the race for the yellow jersey.

Contador and Sanchez also took around 30 seconds out of Voeckler's lead - and, perhaps as importantly, gained a psychological advantage over the Schlecks, who had previously been supremely confident of reaching Paris with one of them at the top of the general classification.