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A crash-marred finish saw riders hit the deck and others inconvenienced on the peloton's entry into the Nogaro motor circuit, but there was no doubting the quality of the sprinters who emerged at the end.
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) exploded away from the stellar leadout of Mathieu van der Poel, but found Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan coming hard for him in the final 100 metres.
The Australian drew alongside his Belgian rival, but ran out of road to complete the pass,and in the throw to the line, Philipsen had half a wheel on Ewan to claim his second successive win of the 2023 edition of the Tour de France.
"Caleb [Ewan] was right next to me. I wasn't too confident," said Philipsen. "He almost caught up with me at the end, it was really nerve-wracking.
"I'm extremely proud to have won twice in a row. The finish was super fast, we felt like race cars. There were wide turns that sometimes tightened, it was extremely fast, but we had some grip with the tyres.
"I'm really glad I didn't hit the deck. I saw there were a lot of falls. I hope the guys are okay."
The Australian sprinter was left to rue what might have been, as his first win since the 2020 Tour de France again just eluded him despite another good showing.
“Once again I felt fast and I almost got the stage win”, said Ewan. “I know I’ve got the speed to win, but everything has to come together to do so.
"Although it’s a bitter second place, it’s nice to battle for the stage victory. I’m getting closer and I will keep on trying.”
Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) continued his fine form for third, with the fancied Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep) crashing as the most notable casualty of the stage contenders.
The rest of the stage was noteworthy for the lack of aggression for the first half of the race, with no breakaway really even attempted.
The first intermediate sprint was the first point of interest, with Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) taking out the points from Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) as the top sprinters tested their legs without fatiguing themselves.
Soon after, Anthony Delaplace (Arkea-Samsic) and Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R-Citroen) attacked and the pace picked up as the race closed in on the finishing motor circuit of Nogaro. The pair never got an advantage of much over a minute, and they were reeled back in by the chasing bunch with 25 kilometres remaining.
Then it was all about positioning for the final circuit, with unfortunately a number of crashes catching out riders during the last few corners.
