Barcelona: Norway’s Thor Hushovd took advantage of the rain and a tricky finale to take his seventh career victory on the Tour de France on Thursday in the 181.5-km sixth stage from Girona to Barcelona.

The Cervelo team sprinter denied local riders a home win as the race moved into Spain, with favourite Oscar Freire finishing second ahead of compatriot Jose Joaquin Rojas.

Fabian Cancellara retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey. Seven-time champion Lance Armstrong stayed second with the same time as the Swiss.

Hushovd, usually at ease in bad weather and short hills, was too strong for Freire on the slippery, rain-soaked last stretch.

“It was a hard first week but I’m too happy right now. I knew I could do something in this stage. It was slippery and dangerous but it suits me,” Hushovd said.

David Millar narrowly missed out on a fourth Tour stage victory and his first in six years, when the Briton was caught with two kilometres to go in the last climb towards the Olympic stadium of Montjuic.

The Tour reaches new heights on Friday with the first mountain stage, a 224-km ride from Barcelona to Andorra-Arcalis.