Schleck in yellow after dramatic Tour stage

(CNN) -- Frank Schleck of Luxembourg seized the overall race lead in the Tour de France after a dramatic first stage in the Alps, won by Australian Simon Gerrans.

Schleck outpaced Cadel Evans up the final climb to Prato Nevoso in Italy to wrest the yellow jersey away from the Australian, who was put under severe pressure by Schleck's CSC team throughout the final 10km of an epic day in the high mountains.

"For me to take the yellow jersey -- it's a childhood dream," said Schleck, who credited his team-mate and younger brother Andy for surging ahead at least twice during the final climb in a bid to force Evans to work hard.

"It was a very hard last climb, really fast and it was thanks mostly to my brother Andy. His pace put everyone into the red.

"My team-mate Carlos (Sastre) attacked at the start, then Andy set the tempo and then Carlos attacked again. The end result is that Carlos has got back into the yellow jersey race and now I've got the yellow jersey.

"That was the goal this morning, and it shows the team can do well on all sorts of terrain, on the flat, in the rain and on the climbs."

Schleck now has a seven-second advantage over Austrian Bernhard Kohl, who also eclipsed Evans in the final ascent. Evans is down to third place overall, just a further second behind.

Credit Agricole rider Gerrans, led a four-man group that broke away from the main pack early in the 183km 15th leg from Embrun, France across the Italian border.

Gerrans, who was claiming his first stage victory in four Tour rides, clocked four hours, 50 minutes, 44 seconds to beat Spain's Egoi Martinez by three seconds. American Danny Pate was third, 10 seconds behind, with Spaniard Jose Luis Arrieta, the other breakaway rider, back in fourth.

"It was a big surprise for me," Gerrans said, adding that he believed Martinez and Pate were generally better climbers. "Winning a stage on the Tour, the biggest race in the world, is just something else. I think it still hasn't sunk in yet. I'm sure I'll be pinching myself for the next few days,"

The stage led riders on a 20.5km ascent up the Agnel pass and then a final climb for 11.4km in wet and dangerous conditions.

Denis Menchov provided one of the major incidents of the day when he came skidding down on a bend on the final climb after launching an attack around 4km from the finish.

Menchov got back on his bike to rejoin the other race favorites, and rebounded in spectacular fashion by finishing 18 seconds ahead of Schleck.

However, Russian Menchov was not the only rider to crash, with the worse incident involving 2006 Tour champion Oscar Pereiro.

The Spaniard toppled over a guard rail on his way down the Col Agnel, falling several meters onto the road below, fracturing his shoulder in the process.

"He has pain down his left side. He is still in the hospital," said his Caisse d'Epargne sporting director Eusebio Unzue. "In the downhill, he hit a rider in front of him and went up in the air for four or five meters."

Unzue said the 31-year-old Pereiro was able to talk moments after his fall, and did not appear to suffer more serious injuries.

"Luckily, at no time did he lose consciousness," Unzue said. "He told me he had a lot of pain in his left shoulder, where he was two or three fractures."

Pereiro was awarded his 2006 Tour win retroactively after Floyd Landis tested positive for synthetic testosterone following a spectacular comeback stage.

Evans had entered Sunday's stage holding a razor-thin one-second lead over Schleck, and a 38-second lead over American Christian Vande Velde -- who has now slipped behind Menchov to lie fifth overall after also suffering a nasty fall during the stage.

Spain's Sastre lies in sixth place overall, but there is only 49 seconds between the leading six riders in the most open Tour in years.

Riders take their second rest day on Monday before two more grueling stages in the Alps, starting with a 157km ride from Cuneo to Jausiers on Tuesday that features two "beyond category" climbs.