The Hollywood heroics of past years have been notably absent so far from this year’s Tour de France and yesterday the T-Mobile team experienced the harsh reality of their brave new world. As Michael Rasmussen, of Denmark, celebrated a trademark lone mountain victory by climbing to the finish line here and taking the overall lead, T-Mobile’s Tour strategy dramatically fell apart.

Cut adrift from the leading group in the approach to the finish, Linus Gerdemann, the German who was fêted on Saturday after his victory in Le Grand-Bornand, lost the Tour leader’s yellow jersey after one day.

Only moments earlier, the T-Mobile team leader, Michael Rogers, was in tears at the roadside after a high-speed crash on the Cormet de Roselend forced him out of the race. Worse was to come. Rogers’s German teammate, Patrik Sinkewitz, was airlifted to hospital in Chambéry with facial injuries and a suspected broken nose after colliding with a spectator at speed while returning to his hotel after the stage had finished. Reports last night indicated that the elderly spectator has been airlifted to hospital in Grenoble with severe injuries. Today is a rest day, but Sinkewitz is thought unlikely to continue.

“In 24 hours, we have experienced the best and the worst of the sport,” Bob Stapleton, the T-Mobile team general manager, said. His squad was further reduced in number when the British debutant and team sprinter, Mark Cavendish, also dropped out halfway through yesterday’s stage.

“It was always planned that this would be his last day,” Stapleton said of Cavendish’s withdrawal. “We knew that it would be a big challenge and we only ever intended that he would race one week. We wanted him to get a taste of the Tour. Now he knows how high the bar is set.”

Yet with his team in disarray after a traumatic stage through the Savoyarde Alps, Stapleton and his riders may rue the Cavendish experiment. With two weeks still to race, T-Mobile’s remaining six riders would have been glad of an extra teammate to share the workload in the days to come.

Gerdemann’s tenure of the yellow jersey was brief, but it was more the manner of his success that mattered. After months of introspective debate in the German media over the extent of doping in cycling, the fresh-faced 24-year-old’s solo win in Le Grand-Bornand was a breath of fresh air.

“Thank you to all the fans and to all those watching on TV who still follow cycling, despite all the problems,” Gerdemann said after Saturday’s success. “I think things are on the right track. We all want a clean sport and I think this victory demonstrates that it’s possible to win clean.”

Rasmussen’s victory, taken in typical swashbuckling style, was a carbon copy of his stage wins in each of the past two Tours and could have been predicted many months ago. But the big surprise yesterday was the emergence of a French contender for final victory on July 29. Christophe Moreau may be in the autumn of his career, but yesterday the 36-year-old showed that he is also in the form of his life.

As Rasmussen climbed through the final bends into Tignes, Moreau was the main animator in the following group of Tour favourites. His repeated attacks wore down their resistance until Alexandre Vinokourov, struggling with injured knees, finally dropped back, accompanied by his Astana teammate, Andreas Klöden.

Vinokourov’s rivals seized the opportunity to pull away and at the finish line the Kazakh was a forlorn figure. In contrast, the irrepressible Moreau, riding for the AG2R team, was the man of the hour.

“I took risks,” Moreau, seventh overall in the standings, said. “I attacked five or six times and I would have liked to have got a bigger reward for my efforts. But it was hard to get a gap. On Tuesday, on the Col du Galibier, things could be very different, but for now, I am happy with how the day went.”

Vincent Lavenu, Moreau’s team manager, was more judicious in his appraisal of his team leader. “I was trying to calm Christophe down, but he is impetuous and he got a bit carried away,” Lavenu said. “We’re not going to put pressure on ourselves by saying that he can win the Tour. Vinokourov is not out of it, neither is Klöden, and Rasmussen is now a serious contender as he is the best climber in the race.”