Tour de France: Rui Costa finds redemption in Super-Besse to win stage eight
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Saturday, July 9, 2011

Tour de France: Rui Costa finds redemption in Super-Besse to win stage eight

by Ben Atkins at 11:18 AM EST   comments
Categories: Pro Cycling, Tour de France, Race Reports and Results
 
Movistar rider takes biggest ever win after “unfair” doping ban

Rui Costa Tour de France stage winRui Costa (Movistar) marked his return from what he felt was an unfair doping ban in style, taking the eighth stage of the Tour de France at Super-Besse, as it headed to the mountains for the first time. The Portuguese rider was the last remaining member of a nine-man break that escaped in the early part of the 189km stage, dropping Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad) on the final climb to the finish, holding off the peloton to take a solo victory.

Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) attacked the peloton in the final kilometre, overtaking a fading Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana), to take second place. Cadel Evans led the very much reduced bunch over the line to take third.

"Winning a stage of the Tour de France is a dream for me. I can’t believe it,” said Costa at the finish. “Since the start of the race I’ve felt very fit. I am confident, but you never know what can be done exactly. A stage win is amazing.

“Throughout the day the break worked well,” he continued, “and when I found myself with Van Garderen, the agreement was good too and I thought we would go together. But when the two French riders joined us, the collaboration didn’t work so well. Then it became a bit risky and, in the end, when I attacked 4.5km from the finish, I felt that was the right time, and I was the strongest.

“Then Vinokourov was right behind me,” he added, “and I thought he would catch me. But I gave everything, and I managed to keep my lead. It’s great.

Costa’s victory is a bright spot in what has been a tough time for the Spanish team, with the death of Xavier Tondo in a freak accident, and the serious crash of Mauricio Soler at the Tour de Suisse.

“We have gone through very difficult times in the team this year, so I’m happy to bring a little happiness with the win,” said Costa. “I dedicate it to everyone who supported me, but especially to Xavier Tondo who died, and Mauricio Soler, who is currently in hospital."

The Tour finally hits the mountains as the race heads south

After the relatively flat stages of the first week, in the west and north of the country, the Tour headed into the centre of the country and the Massif Central for a tough 189km between Aigurande and Super-Besse Sancy.

With the sprinters unlikely to feature, and with Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervélo) expected to lose his yellow jersey, HTC-Highroad and Garmin-Cervélo were unlikely to continue their control of the front of the peloton.

The race started without RadioShack’s Chris Horner due to the American suffering from concussion after coming down in the big crash during stage seven. Although the American managed to finish the stage, he was withdrawn by his team after having spent the night in the local hospital.

A larger than usual break is allowed to get away as the sprinters’ teams relinquish control

After a number of unsuccessful breakaway attempts Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale) managed to get away at the 6km point. The Frenchman was joined by Costa, Xabier Zandio (Team Sky), Addy Engels (Quick Step), Julien El Fares and Romain Zingle (Cofidis), Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad), Cyril Gautier (Europcar), and Alexandr Kolobnev (Katusha).

Costa was the best placed of the nine, 4’02” behind yellow jersey Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervélo) and the American team seemed to have no interest in defending the World champion, with the stage finish not suited to his characteristics.

After 20km the group led the peloton by a minute. Vacansoleil-DCM resigned itself to having missed the move, and handed over control of the peloton to Cadel Evans’ BMC Racing Team.

The climbing begins and Gilbert takes a little victory in the points classification

El Fares led the break over the first of the day’s climbs, the 4th category Côte d'Évaux-les-Bains, after 65.5km to take the solitary point on offer; the BMC Racing led peloton rolled over 5’30” behind him. The gap continued to widen, topping out at 6’10” after 78km, before it began to close again as the race approached the intermediate sprint in Auzances.

The sprint, after 83km, went to Riblon, although the Frenchman was simply at the head of the line as the nine riders rolled over. Behind them though, there was to be a fight for the few remaining points between the contenders for the green jersey.

Gilbert’s Omega Pharma-Lotto team wound up the pace with the Belgian champion in their wake and the Belgian champion beat current green jersey José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) on the line.

BMC Racing closes the gap as the real climbing approaches

The flurry of activity lowered the break’s advantage to 5’45”; as the BMC Racing team resumed control on the front of the peloton, it continued the momentum and the gap began to steadily come down. As Kolbnev led over the 4th category Côte de Rocher des Trois Tourtes, after 119.5km, it had shrunk further to 5’30”.

Until this point all of the work had been done by Evans’ BMC Racing Team but, with 50km to go Astana sent Andriy Grivko and Tomas Vaitkus forward to work for Alexandre Vinokourov. With 42km to go Garmin-Cervélo also joined the chase and, when Omega Pharma-Lotto took over with 35km to go, the gap quickly dropped below two minutes.

As the pace was increased at the foot of the 2nd category Col de la Croix Saint-Robert, Roman Kreuziger (Astana) was dropped. The Czech rider, who won the white jersey at the recent Giro d’Italia, was a faller in the stage seven crash that put Horner and Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) out of the race, and was nursing a bandaged wrist.

Cooperation is over as the breakaway goes on the offensive

With 31km to go, as the nine-man group were on one of the steepest section of the climb, Van Garderen attacked and, as the rest tried to follow, Zingle was dropped. Engels and El Fares were also unable to hold on, and the group was reduced to six.

As the peloton hit the same point Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) attacked, and there was no reaction from the rest. Up front, Costa attacked and only Van Garderen and Gautier could go with him.

Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel-Euskadi) was the next to attack from the peloton with Pierre Rolland (Europcar) in his wheel, and gradually they made their way up to Tiralongo.

Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM) saw his polka-dot jersey threatened, and became the next rider to attack the peloton; with him went Juan Antonio Flecha (Team Sky). None of the favourites in the peloton reacted to any of the moves, although most were lurking close to the front.

Passing under the 30km to go banner the lead group’s advantage was down to 1’30”, but it was now beginning to open up again under the accelerations of the constant attacking. With just over 2km to climb though, the leading trio became a duo, as Gautier was dropped.

Vino attacks for the stage and the yellow jersey

As the peloton hit another steep section, Vinokourov made his move. The Kazakh jumped from the peloton with a huge acceleration, seemingly taking the rest by surprise. Saxo Bank-SunGard initially tried to chase him down, but eventually decided to let him go.

At the front of the race, Van Garderen jumped away from Costa to take the five points at the top of the climb, and an instant lead in the polka-dot jersey standings. Hoogerland needed to take third over the top, or score some points at the finish, both of which looked unlikely, and so the Dutchman could see the jersey slipping away.

Vinokourov made short work of catching the chase group, which included his teammate Tiralongo, and set about trying to both pull back the leaders, and pull away from the peloton. Leopard Trek and Omega Pharma-Lotto were now on the front, but not attempting to chase the Kazakh yet. He started the day just 32 seconds behind Hushovd, meaning that he was heading towards taking the race lead on the road.

The chasing group crossed the top of climb 1’39” behind Van Garderen, while the peloton was 2’02” back. BMC Racing resumed its place at the front as it headed into the descent, while Riblon and Gautier rejoined Van Garderen and Costa to make four up front once more.

With 20km to go, the leading four was 1’25” clear of the chasers, and 1’55” ahead of the peloton; both margins were falling rapidly.

Vino is virtual yellow but the break is holding on

With 16km to go, the group, which was now made up of two Astana riders and two Sky riders, was just 46 seconds behind the four leaders, with the BMC Racing led peloton another 46 seconds back. While Hushovd had managed to stay with the main peloton over the day’s biggest climb, the Kazakh was now the race leader on the road, and potentially heading for his first ever yellow jersey.

On the descent it began to rain, potentially making the newly laid tarmac slippery, but with 11km to go the four leaders began to attack one another. The peloton was 1’13” back as they passed under the 10km banner, but Vinokourov’s group was just 33 seconds behind; the Kazakh still held the virtual yellow jersey, but only just.

BMC Racing was still leading the peloton, with Leopard Trek just behind them, and Hushovd keeping himself close to the front. With 7.5km to go Vinokourov’s group had not made any progress on the front four, but the peloton was gradually closing.

On a climb with 6km to Gautier attacked the leaders, Van Garderen and Costa pulled him back quite easily though, but Riblon now looked finished.

Costa makes his bid for the stage

Rui Costa went straight over the top. Van Garderen followed him, dropping Gautier, and it was the same duo as before, battling on the final climb. Under the 5km to go banner the Movistar rider was still a few metres clear, while behind them Vinokourov and Flecha had dropped their teammates and were in hot pursuit.

Van Garderen looked to have almost pulled back Costa but, metre by metre, the Portuguese rider was slipping away.

“It would have been nice to get the stage win but the group just wasn’t working so well together,” Van Garderen said afterwards. “So we split it up; but then everyone saw that I was one of the stronger ones and that meant that every time there was an attack, I was the one the others were looking at to close it down.”

The ever shrinking peloton was just 1’12” behind at 5km and, although the climb was not a particularly fierce one, race contender and current white jersey Robert Gesink (Rabobank) was dropped. The Dutchman was paced by his team, but he was not able to make it back up to the front again as the pace began to rise.

Vinokourov dropped Flecha, who was all that was left of the chase group, with 4.5km to go. The Kazakh was now just 23 seconds behind Costa, and almost a minute ahead of the peloton. He passed Van Garderen, and was now just 19 seconds behind Costa, he was still almost 50 seconds clear of the yellow jersey group though, and heading for the jersey himself.

With 2km Costa still had 19 seconds, as Vinokourov appeared to be slowing. Behind him, Saxo Bank-SunGard lifted the pace of the peloton, and then Chris Anker Sørensen put in an attack.

Gilbet goes for the points but the favourites mark each other

Gilbert then made a move, which was marked by Contador with Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek) and Evans right behind him. The Belgian champion was not to be denied though, and went again. The stage was out of reach but there were plenty of green jersey points available on the line for second place.

Contador tried again, but was marked once more, then Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) jumped and was allowed to go. Evans attacked again, to be marked by the others, but the favourites were now catching Vinokourov, who had slowed to a virtual standstill. As well as the race against the other favourites Evans was looking for one second on Hushovd to take the yellow jersey, but none of these attacks was enough to dislodge the Norwegian.

Costa took the victory alone, pointing to the sky as he rolled over the line, while Gilbert crossed the line in second, ahead of the race favourites all together.

Virtually all of the favourites finished together, so none was able to take time out of any of the others, but Hushovd held on to the climbers once more to keep his yellow jersey for another day.

“I really didn’t believe that I could keep this yellow jersey,” said the World champion. “I knew that the final was very hard but I’ve got incredible form right now and also the motivation to keep the lead, so I’m very happy with the result today.”

Gilbert’s second place was enough to retake the green jersey from Rojas, while Van Garderen has the consolation of the polka-dot jersey to some way make up for the lost stage victory.

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2011 Tour de France stage eight results

  Click on the arrowsat the top of the column to sort the race results.
Country Result Name Team Time
por POR 1 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Movistar) 04:36:46
bel BEL 2 Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto ) 00:00:12
aus AUS 3 Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) 00:00:15
esp ESP 4 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Euskaltel - Euskadi) s.t.
svk SVK 5 Peter Velits (HTC-Highroad) s.t.
bel BEL 6 Dries Devenyns (Quick Step) s.t.
ita ITA 7 Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) s.t.
esp ESP 8 Alberto Contador Velasco (Saxo Bank-Sungard) s.t.
lux LUX 9 Andy Schleck (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
lux LUX 10 Frank Schleck (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
col COL 11 Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) s.t.
bel BEL 12 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Omega Pharma-Lotto ) s.t.
ger GER 13 Andréas Klöden (RadioShack) s.t.
ita ITA 14 Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) s.t.
usa USA 15 Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cervelo) s.t.
nor NOR 16 Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervelo) s.t.
usa USA 17 Thomas Danielson (Garmin-Cervelo) s.t.
den DEN 18 Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
irl IRL 19 Nicolas Roche (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
ger GER 20 Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad) s.t.
fra FRA 21 Jean-christophe Peraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
kaz KAZ 22 Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) s.t.
gbr GBR 23 Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) s.t.
rus RUS 24 Yuri Trofimov (Katusha) s.t.
esp ESP 25 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (RadioShack) 00:00:26
gbr GBR 26 David Millar (Garmin-Cervelo) s.t.
nor NOR 27 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) s.t.
bel BEL 28 Maxime Monfort (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
fra FRA 29 Arnold Jeannesson (Française Des Jeux) s.t.
usa USA 30 Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) 00:00:29
est EST 31 Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis) s.t.
esp ESP 32 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Movistar) s.t.
fra FRA 33 Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) s.t.
fra FRA 34 Pierre Rolland (Europcar) 00:00:33
fra FRA 35 Anthony Charteau (Europcar) s.t.
bel BEL 36 Kevin De Weert (Quick Step) s.t.
fra FRA 37 Christophe Riblon (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
ned NED 38 Rob Ruijgh (Vacansoleil-DCM) s.t.
fra FRA 39 Jérome Coppel (Saur-Sojasun) s.t.
rus RUS 40 Vladimir Gusev (Katusha) 00:00:50
ned NED 41 Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM) s.t.
rus RUS 42 Vladimir Karpets (Katusha) s.t.
esp ESP 43 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Euskaltel - Euskadi) s.t.
fra FRA 44 Sandy Casar (Française Des Jeux) s.t.
fra FRA 45 David Moncoutié (Cofidis) s.t.
fra FRA 46 John Gadret (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
kaz KAZ 47 Dmitriy Fofonov (Astana) s.t.
bel BEL 48 Bjorn Leukemans (Vacansoleil-DCM) s.t.
fra FRA 49 Rémy Di Gregorio (Astana) 00:01:02
esp ESP 50 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:01:16
den DEN 51 Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank-Sungard) s.t.
esp ESP 52 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Saxo Bank-Sungard) s.t.
ned NED 53 Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank) 00:01:23
esp ESP 54 Juan Antonio Flecha (Team Sky) s.t.
esp ESP 55 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Rabobank) s.t.
ned NED 56 Robert Gesink (Rabobank) s.t.
ger GER 57 Linus Gerdemann (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
aus AUS 58 Richie Porte (Saxo Bank-Sungard) s.t.
can CAN 59 Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Cervelo) 00:01:33
slo SLO 60 Kristjan Koren (Liquigas-Cannondale) 00:01:38
ita ITA 61 Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil-DCM) s.t.
bel BEL 62 Jelle Vanendert (Omega Pharma-Lotto ) 00:01:49
pol POL 63 Sylvester Szmyd (Liquigas-Cannondale) s.t.
esp ESP 64 Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Rabobank) 00:02:00
fra FRA 65 Cyril Gautier (Europcar) 00:02:10
usa USA 66 Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad) 00:02:12
fra FRA 67 Jérome Pineau (Quick Step) 00:02:25
ned NED 68 Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) 00:02:36
esp ESP 69 David Arroyo Duran (Movistar) 00:02:44
ita ITA 70 Ivan Santaromita (BMC Racing) 00:02:52
fra FRA 71 Tony Gallopin (Cofidis) 00:03:02
fra FRA 72 Yannick Talabardon (Saur-Sojasun) s.t.
kaz KAZ 73 Andrey Zeits (Astana) 00:03:13
fra FRA 74 Hubert Dupont (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
por POR 75 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (RadioShack) 00:03:33
esp ESP 76 Imanol Erviti Ollo (Movistar) s.t.
esp ESP 77 Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel - Euskadi) s.t.
esp ESP 78 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Euskaltel - Euskadi) s.t.
ita ITA 79 Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) 00:03:49
pol POL 80 Maciej Paterski (Liquigas-Cannondale) s.t.
fra FRA 81 Amaël Moinard (BMC Racing) 00:05:05
ita ITA 82 Matteo Bono (Lampre-ISD) 00:05:36
sui SUI 83 David Loosli (Lampre-ISD) s.t.
esp ESP 84 Jesús Hernández Blazquez (Saxo Bank-Sungard) s.t.
den DEN 85 Nicki Sörensen (Saxo Bank-Sungard) s.t.
ned NED 86 Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM) s.t.
aus AUS 87 Simon Gerrans (Team Sky) s.t.
ita ITA 88 Daniel Oss (Liquigas-Cannondale) s.t.
usa USA 89 George Hincapie (BMC Racing) s.t.
ita ITA 90 Adriano Malori (Lampre-ISD) s.t.
sui SUI 91 Steve Morabito (BMC Racing) s.t.
fra FRA 92 Julien El Fares (Cofidis) s.t.
esp ESP 93 Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel - Euskadi) s.t.
fra FRA 94 Sébastien Minard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
den DEN 95 Brian Vandborg (Saxo Bank-Sungard) s.t.
esp ESP 96 Xabier Zandio Echaide (Team Sky) s.t.
fra FRA 97 Maxime Bouet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) 00:09:38
ger GER 98 Christian Knees (Team Sky) s.t.
rus RUS 99 Alexandr Kolobnev (Katusha) s.t.
ger GER 100 Jens Voigt (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
ger GER 101 Grischa Niermann (Rabobank) 00:11:07
ger GER 102 Sebastian Lang (Omega Pharma-Lotto ) s.t.
bel BEL 103 Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM) s.t.
esp ESP 104 Benjamin Gonzalez Noval (Saxo Bank-Sungard) s.t.
esp ESP 105 Alan Lezaun Perez (Euskaltel - Euskadi) s.t.
esp ESP 106 Markel Irizar Aranburu (RadioShack) s.t.
esp ESP 107 José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Movistar) s.t.
ger GER 108 Danilo Hondo (Lampre-ISD) s.t.
rus RUS 109 Egor Silin (Katusha) s.t.
fra FRA 110 Anthony Delaplace (Saur-Sojasun) s.t.
rus RUS 111 Pavel Brutt (Katusha) s.t.
bel BEL 112 Romain Zingle (Cofidis) s.t.
fra FRA 113 Sébastien Turgot (Europcar) s.t.
fra FRA 114 Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) s.t.
ned NED 115 Niki Terpstra (Quick Step) 00:11:11
usa USA 116 Brent Bookwalter (BMC Racing) s.t.
ukr UKR 117 Yaroslav Popovych (RadioShack) 00:13:06
col COL 118 Leonardo Fabio Duque (Cofidis) 00:15:16
fra FRA 119 Anthony Roux (Française Des Jeux) 00:17:54
fra FRA 120 Arthur Vichot (Française Des Jeux) s.t.
bel BEL 121 Gianni Meersman (Française Des Jeux) s.t.
fra FRA 122 Mickaël Delage (Française Des Jeux) s.t.
ita ITA 123 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Lampre-ISD) s.t.
fra FRA 124 Jeremie Galland (Saur-Sojasun) s.t.
ned NED 125 Addy Engels (Quick Step) 00:18:49
fra FRA 126 Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM) 00:19:59
fra FRA 127 Mickael Buffaz (Cofidis) s.t.
ita ITA 128 Alessandro Vanotti (Liquigas-Cannondale) s.t.
ger GER 129 Marcus Burghardt (BMC Racing) s.t.
aut AUT 130 Bernhard Eisel (HTC-Highroad) s.t.
ita ITA 131 Paolo Longho Borghini (Liquigas-Cannondale) s.t.
fra FRA 132 Vincent Jerome (Europcar) s.t.
pol POL 133 Maciej Bodnar (Liquigas-Cannondale) s.t.
aus AUS 134 Stuart O' Grady (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
ned NED 135 Joost Posthuma (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
sui SUI 136 Fabian Cancellara (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
fra FRA 137 Sébastien Hinault (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
fra FRA 138 Jérémy Roy (Française Des Jeux) s.t.
ger GER 139 Marcel Sieberg (Omega Pharma-Lotto ) s.t.
sui SUI 140 Michael Schar (BMC Racing) s.t.
aus AUS 141 Mark Renshaw (HTC-Highroad) s.t.
ita ITA 142 Manuel Quinziato (BMC Racing) s.t.
nzl NZL 143 Julian Dean (Garmin-Cervelo) s.t.
ita ITA 144 Matteo Tosatto (Saxo Bank-Sungard) s.t.
ger GER 145 Andre Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto ) s.t.
fra FRA 146 Blel Kadri (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
bel BEL 147 Jurgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto ) s.t.
fra FRA 148 Perrig Quemeneur (Europcar) s.t.
ltu LTU 149 Tomas Vaitkus (Astana) s.t.
aus AUS 150 Matthew Goss (HTC-Highroad) s.t.
rus RUS 151 Mikhail Ignatyev (Katusha) s.t.
fra FRA 152 Yohann Gene (Europcar) s.t.
ukr UKR 153 Andriy Grivko (Astana) s.t.
ita ITA 154 Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) s.t.
ukr UKR 155 Denys Kostyuk (Lampre-ISD) s.t.
ita ITA 156 Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas-Cannondale) s.t.
rus RUS 157 Denis Galimzyanov (Katusha) s.t.
crc CRC 158 Andrey Amador Bakkazakova (Movistar) s.t.
bel BEL 159 Frederik Willems (Omega Pharma-Lotto ) s.t.
rus RUS 160 Vladimir Isaychev (Katusha) s.t.
fra FRA 161 Arnaud Coyot (Saur-Sojasun) s.t.
fra FRA 162 William Bonnet (Française Des Jeux) s.t.
bel BEL 163 Gert Steegmans (Quick Step) s.t.
esp ESP 164 Pablo Urtasun Perez (Euskaltel - Euskadi) s.t.
usa USA 165 Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo) s.t.
fra FRA 166 Tristan Valentin (Cofidis) s.t.
fra FRA 167 Laurent Mangel (Saur-Sojasun) s.t.
ltu LTU 168 Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Cervelo) s.t.
den DEN 169 Lars Ytting Bak (HTC-Highroad) s.t.
gbr GBR 170 Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) s.t.
slo SLO 171 Grega Bole (Lampre-ISD) s.t.
slo SLO 172 Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil-DCM) s.t.
ned NED 173 Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank) s.t.
kaz KAZ 174 Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana) s.t.
kaz KAZ 175 Dmitriy Muravyev (RadioShack) s.t.
usa USA 176 David Zabriskie (Garmin-Cervelo) s.t.
fra FRA 177 Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) s.t.
usa USA 178 Danny Pate (HTC-Highroad) s.t.
ned NED 179 Lars Boom (Rabobank) s.t.
gbr GBR 180 Ben Swift (Team Sky) s.t.
esp ESP 181 Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Movistar) s.t.
esp ESP 182 Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank) s.t.
ger GER 183 Gerald Ciolek (Quick Step) s.t.
fra FRA 184 Fabrice Jeandesboz (Saur-Sojasun) s.t.
fra FRA 185 Jonathan Hivert (Saur-Sojasun) 00:20:07
cze CZE 186 Roman Kreuziger (Astana) s.t.
fra FRA 187 Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur-Sojasun) s.t.
ned NED 188 Wout Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM) 00:28:48
esp ESP DNF Benat Intxausti (Movistar)  
usa USA DNS Chris Horner (RadioShack)  

General Classification following stage eight

Country Result Name Team Time
nor NOR 1 Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervelo) 33:06:28
aus AUS 2 Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) 00:00:01
lux LUX 3 Frank Schleck (Leopard-Trek) 00:00:04
ger GER 4 Andréas Klöden (RadioShack) 00:00:10
den DEN 5 Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard-Trek) 00:00:12
lux LUX 6 Andy Schleck (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
ger GER 7 Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad) 00:00:13
svk SVK 8 Peter Velits (HTC-Highroad) s.t.
gbr GBR 9 David Millar (Garmin-Cervelo) 00:00:19
bel BEL 10 Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto ) 00:00:30
kaz KAZ 11 Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) 00:00:32
bel BEL 12 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Omega Pharma-Lotto ) 00:00:39
ita ITA 13 Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) 00:01:03
irl IRL 14 Nicolas Roche (Ag2r-La Mondiale) 00:01:12
ita ITA 15 Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) s.t.
bel BEL 16 Kevin De Weert (Quick Step) 00:01:22
ned NED 17 Robert Gesink (Rabobank) 00:01:28
esp ESP 18 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Movistar) 00:01:29
fra FRA 19 Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) s.t.
esp ESP 20 Alberto Contador Velasco (Saxo Bank-Sungard) 00:01:42
usa USA 21 Thomas Danielson (Garmin-Cervelo) 00:01:57
usa USA 22 Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cervelo) s.t.
rus RUS 23 Vladimir Karpets (Katusha) 00:02:04
bel BEL 24 Maxime Monfort (Leopard-Trek) 00:02:11
ger GER 25 Linus Gerdemann (Leopard-Trek) 00:02:14
esp ESP 26 Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Rabobank) 00:02:25
est EST 27 Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis) 00:02:27
esp ESP 28 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (RadioShack) 00:02:35
esp ESP 29 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:02:36
rus RUS 30 Yuri Trofimov (Katusha) 00:02:43
fra FRA 31 Arnold Jeannesson (Française Des Jeux) 00:02:48
bel BEL 32 Bjorn Leukemans (Vacansoleil-DCM) 00:02:54
fra FRA 33 Jean-christophe Peraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale) 00:03:07
ned NED 34 Rob Ruijgh (Vacansoleil-DCM) 00:03:10
gbr GBR 35 Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) 00:03:18
esp ESP 36 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Rabobank) 00:03:23
nor NOR 37 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) 00:03:29
fra FRA 38 Jérome Pineau (Quick Step) 00:03:31
fra FRA 39 Jérome Coppel (Saur-Sojasun) 00:03:34
por POR 40 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Movistar) 00:03:47
col COL 41 Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) 00:04:24
usa USA 42 Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) 00:04:43
slo SLO 43 Kristjan Koren (Liquigas-Cannondale) 00:04:47
bel BEL 44 Dries Devenyns (Quick Step) 00:05:24
rus RUS 45 Vladimir Gusev (Katusha) 00:05:40
can CAN 46 Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Cervelo) 00:05:46
fra FRA 47 Cyril Gautier (Europcar) 00:05:59
fra FRA 48 Pierre Rolland (Europcar) 00:06:34
ned NED 49 Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) 00:07:01
fra FRA 50 Sandy Casar (Française Des Jeux) 00:07:04
fra FRA 51 Anthony Charteau (Europcar) 00:07:16
esp ESP 52 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:07:27
pol POL 53 Maciej Paterski (Liquigas-Cannondale) 00:07:54
fra FRA 54 David Moncoutié (Cofidis) 00:08:03
ita ITA 55 Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil-DCM) 00:08:10
esp ESP 56 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:10:01
usa USA 57 Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad) 00:10:03
bel BEL 58 Jelle Vanendert (Omega Pharma-Lotto ) 00:10:14
ned NED 59 Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM) 00:10:17
ned NED 60 Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank) 00:10:25
usa USA 61 George Hincapie (BMC Racing) 00:10:37
fra FRA 62 Yannick Talabardon (Saur-Sojasun) 00:11:50
fra FRA 63 Julien El Fares (Cofidis) 00:12:01
fra FRA 64 John Gadret (Ag2r-La Mondiale) 00:12:22
esp ESP 65 Juan Antonio Flecha (Team Sky) 00:12:28
fra FRA 66 Hubert Dupont (Ag2r-La Mondiale) 00:12:46
esp ESP 67 Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:12:59
esp ESP 68 Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:13:14
fra FRA 69 Rémy Di Gregorio (Astana) 00:13:51
ita ITA 70 Daniel Oss (Liquigas-Cannondale) 00:14:10
rus RUS 71 Alexandr Kolobnev (Katusha) 00:14:14
aus AUS 72 Simon Gerrans (Team Sky) 00:14:43
fra FRA 73 Sébastien Turgot (Europcar) 00:14:52
fra FRA 74 Tony Gallopin (Cofidis) s.t.
sui SUI 75 David Loosli (Lampre-ISD) 00:15:09
rus RUS 76 Egor Silin (Katusha) 00:15:10
kaz KAZ 77 Dmitriy Fofonov (Astana) 00:15:38
esp ESP 78 Imanol Erviti Ollo (Movistar) 00:16:02
ita ITA 79 Adriano Malori (Lampre-ISD) 00:16:37
fra FRA 80 Maxime Bouet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) 00:16:43
fra FRA 81 Christophe Riblon (Ag2r-La Mondiale) 00:17:00
sui SUI 82 Steve Morabito (BMC Racing) 00:17:01
esp ESP 83 José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Movistar) 00:17:18
ger GER 84 Danilo Hondo (Lampre-ISD) 00:17:21
den DEN 85 Nicki Sörensen (Saxo Bank-Sungard) 00:18:08
den DEN 86 Brian Vandborg (Saxo Bank-Sungard) 00:18:57
esp ESP 87 David Arroyo Duran (Movistar) 00:19:50
esp ESP 88 Markel Irizar Aranburu (RadioShack) 00:20:42
den DEN 89 Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank-Sungard) 00:20:57
aus AUS 90 Richie Porte (Saxo Bank-Sungard) 00:21:05
ger GER 91 Christian Knees (Team Sky) 00:21:09
fra FRA 92 Sébastien Minard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) 00:21:14
pol POL 93 Sylvester Szmyd (Liquigas-Cannondale) 00:21:18
fra FRA 94 Amaël Moinard (BMC Racing) 00:21:35
fra FRA 95 Arthur Vichot (Française Des Jeux) 00:22:07
ger GER 96 Sebastian Lang (Omega Pharma-Lotto ) s.t.
kaz KAZ 97 Andrey Zeits (Astana) 00:22:08
ita ITA 98 Ivan Santaromita (BMC Racing) 00:22:42
ger GER 99 Grischa Niermann (Rabobank) 00:23:06
fra FRA 100 Sébastien Hinault (Ag2r-La Mondiale) 00:23:14
esp ESP 101 Alan Lezaun Perez (Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:23:34
ger GER 102 Jens Voigt (Leopard-Trek) 00:23:46
fra FRA 103 Mickaël Delage (Française Des Jeux) 00:23:53
col COL 104 Leonardo Fabio Duque (Cofidis) 00:24:02
bel BEL 105 Gianni Meersman (Française Des Jeux) 00:24:07
aus AUS 106 Matthew Goss (HTC-Highroad) 00:24:38
fra FRA 107 Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) 00:24:39
esp ESP 108 Benjamin Gonzalez Noval (Saxo Bank-Sungard) s.t.
ned NED 109 Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM) 00:24:43
fra FRA 110 Anthony Roux (Française Des Jeux) 00:24:54
cze CZE 111 Roman Kreuziger (Astana) 00:25:27
bel BEL 112 Jurgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto ) 00:25:43
gbr GBR 113 Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) 00:25:50
fra FRA 114 William Bonnet (Française Des Jeux) 00:25:57
rus RUS 115 Pavel Brutt (Katusha) 00:26:04
esp ESP 116 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Saxo Bank-Sungard) 00:26:15
fra FRA 117 Anthony Delaplace (Saur-Sojasun) 00:26:18
gbr GBR 118 Ben Swift (Team Sky) 00:26:40
ita ITA 119 Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) 00:26:41
ita ITA 120 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Lampre-ISD) 00:26:47
bel BEL 121 Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM) 00:27:48
bel BEL 122 Romain Zingle (Cofidis) 00:27:58
aus AUS 123 Stuart O' Grady (Leopard-Trek) 00:28:17
fra FRA 124 Jeremie Galland (Saur-Sojasun) 00:28:27
usa USA 125 Brent Bookwalter (BMC Racing) 00:28:40
esp ESP 126 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:29:00
fra FRA 127 Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM) 00:29:12
ita ITA 128 Manuel Quinziato (BMC Racing) 00:29:35
ned NED 129 Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank) 00:29:38
sui SUI 130 Fabian Cancellara (Leopard-Trek) 00:29:39
esp ESP 131 Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank) 00:29:41
ita ITA 132 Alessandro Vanotti (Liquigas-Cannondale) 00:30:03
ukr UKR 133 Yaroslav Popovych (RadioShack) 00:30:05
ita ITA 134 Matteo Bono (Lampre-ISD) 00:30:12
fra FRA 135 Tristan Valentin (Cofidis) 00:30:30
slo SLO 136 Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil-DCM) 00:30:47
ita ITA 137 Matteo Tosatto (Saxo Bank-Sungard) 00:31:35
por POR 138 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (RadioShack) 00:31:42
slo SLO 139 Grega Bole (Lampre-ISD) 00:31:47
rus RUS 140 Denis Galimzyanov (Katusha) 00:32:01
fra FRA 141 Yohann Gene (Europcar) 00:32:05
sui SUI 142 Michael Schar (BMC Racing) 00:32:07
ger GER 143 Marcel Sieberg (Omega Pharma-Lotto ) 00:32:13
ita ITA 144 Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) 00:32:22
ned NED 145 Lars Boom (Rabobank) 00:32:55
bel BEL 146 Frederik Willems (Omega Pharma-Lotto ) 00:33:08
ltu LTU 147 Tomas Vaitkus (Astana) 00:33:16
ned NED 148 Joost Posthuma (Leopard-Trek) 00:33:36
rus RUS 149 Mikhail Ignatyev (Katusha) 00:33:42
pol POL 150 Maciej Bodnar (Liquigas-Cannondale) 00:34:02
esp ESP 151 Xabier Zandio Echaide (Team Sky) 00:34:09
fra FRA 152 Jonathan Hivert (Saur-Sojasun) 00:34:52
nzl NZL 153 Julian Dean (Garmin-Cervelo) 00:34:59
esp ESP 154 Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Movistar) 00:35:03
ltu LTU 155 Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Cervelo) 00:35:28
ukr UKR 156 Denys Kostyuk (Lampre-ISD) 00:35:38
ukr UKR 157 Andriy Grivko (Astana) 00:35:45
ita ITA 158 Paolo Longho Borghini (Liquigas-Cannondale) 00:35:51
usa USA 159 Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo) 00:35:56
ned NED 160 Wout Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM) 00:36:07
usa USA 161 Danny Pate (HTC-Highroad) 00:36:31
fra FRA 162 Laurent Mangel (Saur-Sojasun) 00:37:29
fra FRA 163 Arnaud Coyot (Saur-Sojasun) 00:38:13
kaz KAZ 164 Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana) 00:38:14
aut AUT 165 Bernhard Eisel (HTC-Highroad) 00:38:29
fra FRA 166 Fabrice Jeandesboz (Saur-Sojasun) 00:38:41
ger GER 167 Marcus Burghardt (BMC Racing) 00:39:58
fra FRA 168 Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) 00:40:46
ned NED 169 Niki Terpstra (Quick Step) s.t.
ger GER 170 Andre Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto ) 00:41:02
aus AUS 171 Mark Renshaw (HTC-Highroad) 00:41:27
den DEN 172 Lars Ytting Bak (HTC-Highroad) 00:42:50
ger GER 173 Gerald Ciolek (Quick Step) 00:44:03
fra FRA 174 Jérémy Roy (Française Des Jeux) 00:44:17
usa USA 175 David Zabriskie (Garmin-Cervelo) 00:46:28
esp ESP 176 Pablo Urtasun Perez (Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:46:33
fra FRA 177 Perrig Quemeneur (Europcar) 00:48:37
ita ITA 178 Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas-Cannondale) 00:48:57
fra FRA 179 Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur-Sojasun) 00:49:36
crc CRC 180 Andrey Amador Bakkazakova (Movistar) 00:49:57
fra FRA 181 Blel Kadri (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
kaz KAZ 182 Dmitriy Muravyev (RadioShack) 00:50:28
fra FRA 183 Mickael Buffaz (Cofidis) 00:51:16
rus RUS 184 Vladimir Isaychev (Katusha) 00:51:23
esp ESP 185 Jesús Hernández Blazquez (Saxo Bank-Sungard) 00:53:06
ned NED 186 Addy Engels (Quick Step) 00:53:39
bel BEL 187 Gert Steegmans (Quick Step) 00:01:51
fra FRA 188 Vincent Jerome (Europcar) 00:09:13

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