Frank Schleck wrestled the yellow jersey from the grip of Cadel Evans as the race favourite suffered badly on the summit finish to Prato Nevoso in the Tour de France.

CSC's Schleck, who trailed Evans by one second going into the 15th stage from Embrun, takes a seven-second lead in the general classification from Bernhard Kohl, who headed home the chasing pack behind the breakaway group.

Kohl, of Gerolsteiner, finished fifth in the stage ahead of Schleck, ninth, and the Austrian has a one-second advantage over Evans, who drops to third overall.

As Evans toiled in yellow, his fellow Australian Simon Gerrans rode the perfect ascent up Prato Nevoso to outfox his fellow escapees and win the 183km stage by three seconds from Egoi Martinez.

The 28-year-old Credit Agricole rider sat on the wheel of Danny Pate and Martinez, and kicked away in the final metres.

Martinez, King of the Mountains at the 2006 Vuelta a Espana and a better climber, appeared to be in the box seat when the trio entered the last 300m of the 11.1km climb to the Italian ski station, but he could not respond when Gerrans made his move.

The escapees benefited from several crashes in the peloton, most notably to third-placed Christian Vandevelde, and 2006 Tour winner Oscar Pereiro, who was forced to retire with a broken femur and shoulder.

Leading final positions after Stage 15 (Embrun - Prato Nevoso, 183km):

1 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Credit Agricole 4hrs 50mins 44secs

2 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi at 0.03

3 Danny Pate (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 at 0.10

4 Jose Luis Arrieta Lujambio (Spa) AG2R La Mondiale at 0.55

5 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner at 4.03

6 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank at same time

7 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne at 4.12

8 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank at 4.23

9 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank at 4.41

10 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 at 4.43

11 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas at 4.46

12 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi at 4.50

13 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto at same time

14 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank at 4.58

15 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia at 5.34

16 Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Lampre at 5.42

17 Sandy Casar (Fra) Francaise des Jeux at same time

18 Stephane Goubert (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at 5.44

19 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) AG2R La Mondiale at 5.46

20 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas at same time

Selected Others:

105 David Millar (Gbr) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 5hrs 12mins 41secs

DNS: Mark Cavendish (Gbr) Team Columbia

Overall Classification after Stage 15:

1 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 63hrs 57mins 21secs

2 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner at 0.07

3 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto at 0.08

4 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank at 0.38

5 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 at 0.39

6 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank at 0.49

7 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia at 2.48

8 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale at 3.36

9 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne at 4.11

10 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi at 4.34

11 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi at 5.18

12 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas at 5.22

13 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) AG2R La Mondiale at 6.27

14 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas at 7.15

15 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre at 7.43

16 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Cofidis - Le Credit par Telephone at 8.34

17 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank at 9.01

18 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Credit Agricole at 9.52

19 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank at 12.33

20 Amael Moinard (Fra) Cofidis - Le Credit par Telephone at 13.55

Selected Others:

51 David Millar (Gbr) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 64hrs 49mins 58secs

Gerrans was delighted to take his first stage win in a Grand Tour. "As we came into the last climb, I knew we were clear [from the peloton] with the gap that we had," Gerrans told letour.fr.

"But only in the last 100 metres did I see that I could win. At one moment I was in real difficulty, but I succeeded in taking Martinez and Pate.

"In the preceding stages I tried to be in an escape, but it never arrived.

"In the mountain stages, I don't normally have any hopes to win, but I thought 'After all, I've got nothing to lose, and there's a rest day tomorrow.'

"In the last kilometre, I started to really believe. They [Martinez and Pate] are better climbers than me and that's why I didn't give them much help in the climb.

"It was my goal in each Tour de France to try to win a stage. It's my fourth start, so I've taken my time, but better late than never."

Evans was isolated from his Silence-Lotto team and worn out by the pace set by Schleck's younger brother Andy, and he was fortunate to escape greater losses on the Tour's first day in the Alps.

One of his main rivals, Denis Menchov, kicked clear of the yellow jersey group 7km from the summit, only to slip on the apex of a corner.

The Rabobank rider remounted and rejoined the group, coming home in eighth, 20 seconds behind Kohl, but his challenge for yellow was over for the day.

Kohl just misses out on the maillot jaune despite a powerful finish, but he has the consolation of taking the polka dot jersey from Gerolsteiner team-mate Sebastian Lang.

The weather put paid to any chance of the breakaway quartet being caught, with the peloton having to endure dreadful conditions on the Agnel in particular.

First to go was Thor Hushovd's Credit Agricole lead-out man, Mark Renshaw.

Then Pereiro, the only rider in the peloton to have won the event before, broke his femur and shoulder in a collision with Barloworld's Robbie Hunter descending the Agnel.

Pereiro looked strong in this year's Tour, but lost a lot of time working for his struggling Caisse d'Epargne team leader Alejandro Valverde.

There were also mass falls either side of a roundabout approaching Cuneo, with Vandevelde, Damiano Cunego and leading Briton David Millar all appearing to slip on a substance deposited on the road.

Vandevelde continued without much of a problem and caught up with the maillot jaune to finish 10th and stay in touch for victory.

The trouble encountered by the riders served to justify Team Columbia's decision to withdraw Mark Cavendish.

The Briton was pulled from the Tour in the morning before the stage, citing fatigue and the need to prepare for the Madison track event in the Beijing Olympics.

In doing so, Cavendish, 23, turned down the opportunity to become the first man to win five stages in a Tour since Lance Armstrong in 2004.

The Isle of Man rider beat his rivals in bunch sprints at Chateauroux, Toulouse, Narbonne and Nimes, but did not contest Saturday's run-in to Digne les Bains, won by Oscar Freire.

More news from SportingLife.com