Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway led a sprint to win the rain-splattered sixth stage of the Tour de France 2011 and his countryman Thor Hushovd (Team Garmin-Cervélo) retained the yellow jersey earlier today.

The pack battled both slippery roads and brisk winds over the hilly 226.5-kilometer (140.75-mile) ride across northwest France from Dinan to Lisieux in Normandy - the longest stage of the 2011 Tour de France.

Boasson Hagen, a sprint specialist with Team Sky, whizzed out of the barreling pack with about 200 meters left and held on, jutting his arms in the air as he crossed the line for his first Tour de France stage victory.

"I really surprised myself," Hagen said. "Lots of people say that I'm a talented guy, so it's nice to show it by winning a stage."

Boasson Hagen has previously won a stage in a Grand Tour - Stage 7 of the 2009 Giro d'Italia.

Team HTC-HighRoad's Matt Goss of Australia was second, and Hushovd finished third after holding himself back in the sprint to help his young Norwegian countryman, according to some pro cycling analysts.

Referring to his compatriot Hushovd, who has twice taken home the Tour's green jersey awarded to the best sprinter, Hagen said: "I want to be as good as him - or better."

Philippe Gilbert of Team Omega Pharma-Lotto and Belgium, who won Saturday's 1st stage, said "everyone was a bit out of breath" and that Hagen "devoured the last 150 meters - he's impossible to catch when he's like that."

Hushovd reveled in his country's success on Thursday.

"Not bad, after all - it's a good day for Norway," said the Garmin-Cervelo veteran, who retained the yellow jersey for a fifth consecutive day. As for Hagen, he said: "Clearly he's got a big future."

Overall, Hushovd retained a one-second lead from Cadel Evans of Australia, while Frank Schleck of Luxembourg is third, four seconds back. Three-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, who lost time in a Stage 1 crash, sits 39th overall, 1:42 behind Hushovd.

Hushovd and his team appeared to be wearying of the hard work of protecting the yellow jersey, which involves riding in the front to keep the race leader out of potential trouble.

"The yellow jersey's on my shoulders and I used up a lot of energy, so I'm a little bit tired. That's why I missed that little something today," Hushovd said to try to explain to journalists why he held himself back in the final meters.

"I'm feeling good but it's been a hard and stressful week," Hushovd added.

A string of breakaway riders sought to get a leg up but the pack eventually reeled them all in - the last ones getting caught within just the last two kilometers. The pack also had to scale three low-grade climbs.

Bike tires kicked up trails of mist on the rain-soaked roads, while the riders' shaved legs and arms glistened. Many gingerly negotiated sharp turns like one at the entrance to Lisieux.

"Already it was a long day, with the wind and the rain," Evans told Roadcycling.com and our mobile sister site Roadcycling.mobi and added "This is my seventh Tour and it's the most wet weather I have had in one day. And to have it happen on the longest day made it even harder."

Evans again said his BMC Racing Team has been doing a good job of keeping him positioned near the front and out of danger.

"Also, on some of the hard finishes and longer stages like this one, you see some of the teams get caught out," Evans said.

"You never know what can happen on a finish like today. But certainly the classification is really looking good at the moment. Everyone on the team is healthy and really riding well. We can look forward to the mountains, but still have a few more days to get through safely before we get there," Evans concluded.

Top title contenders like Contador, Evans and two-time Tour runner-up Andy Schleck tried to suss out each other's climbing abilities. At one point, said Evans, Contador showed "a pretty good little attack." However, Contador chose the long way in a roundabout, which annulled his small attack.

"In the beginning of the stage, I was struggling a bit but after a few kilometers of pedaling I was feeling ok. It was another nervous stage and because of the rain I virtually wasn't able to see anything."

"At the end of stage I was moving to the very front of the pack simply to avoid accidents and not because I wanted to make an attack. I'm happy to say that I'm feeling better all the time," Team Saxo Bank-SunGard's Contador told journalists to try to explain his attack mishap and to signal to his GC competitors that he is fit for fight after his crash in yesterday's dramatic stage.

"With these climbs, it's so short and sharp that it doesn't give a good indication of who's really climbing the best - so we'll see when we get there," Evans said of the mountain stages in the Pyrenees and Alps. The three-week race ends July 24 in Paris.

Despite the slippery conditions, the stage was marked by fewer crashes than a day earlier, when many riders including Contador and British rider Bradley Wiggins went down.

Still, it was yet another bad day for the U.S. RadioShack team because American veteran Levi Leipheimer crashed with about 5 kilometers left - his second spill in two days - and lost more than a minute on the other general classification contenders.

The 37-year-old Leipheimer finished the stage in 75th place, 1:05 behind Hagen, and dropped to 31st overall - 1:23 behind Hushovd. A photo of Leipheimer removing his race numbers from his RadioShack jersey published on Twitter after the stage indicates that Leipheimer is exiting the 2011 Tour. In pro cycling removing ones race numbers from ones jersey is used to signal that you're leaving a race.

On Wednesday, RadioShack lost young star Janez Brajkovic of Slovenia from the race in a nasty spill that left him unconscious, bloodied on his head, and suffering from a concussion and broken collarbone.

The pack shrank by another rider, leaving 194 men in the race. Ivan Velasco of Spain didn't start Thursday after breaking his collarbone in a crash the day before.

Friday's stage offers more long-distance punishment. Riders are to cover 218 kilometers in a mostly flat ride from auto racing mecca Le Mans to Chateauroux, near mainland France's geographic center.

Click here for complete stage 6 photos and additional photos.