A trio of sterling performances marked Stage 8 of the Tour de France on Saturday, the first day the peloton has battled in the mountains this year.
Let's start with Portugal's Rui Costa (Movistar), left. He joined a breakaway less than two miles into the 118-mile lumpy route from Aigurande and survived to the mountain-top finish at Super Besse-Sancy for his first Tour de France stage win.
After dropping his three companions in the breakaway on the final climb, Costa outlasted Phillippe Gilbert (Omega) who accelerated out of the peloton but finished 22 seconds behind him.
Then there was overall leader Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervelo). The Norwegian readily admitted on camera Friday that he's not suited to competing in the mountains and would probably lose the yellow jersey in Stage 8. He also promised to do his best in order to respect the jersey.
His best turned out being good enough to keep the yellow jersey another day as he finished in the group of leaders that included his closest rival, Cadel Evans (BMC), who remains one-second behind. Hushovd is quoted in CyclingNews:
“Today I surprised myself again, although I did not have a good day. But I just hung on, hung on, hung on, and it's just
incredible that I'm still here in yellow.”
The third cyclist to put in a gutsy performance was Tacoma-born Tejay van Garderen (HTC Highroad). The 22-year-old is riding in his first Tour de France but he looks as strong as the veterans.
He shared the work of the breakaway for about 115 miles, attacked to win the Category 2 climb and even brought back attacks near the end of the stage. He was awarded the “Most Aggressive” cyclist on the stage and earned the polka-dot jersey in the overall mountains competition.
Meanwhile, defending champion Alberto Contador seemed unable to catch up to Evans, the brothers Schleck, or any other race leaders on Saturday.
He made a couple of signature out-of-the-saddle attacks on the climb to Super-Besse Sancy, but he rivals appeared to mark his moves with little effort. Perhaps his attacks will have better results on steeper climbs.
Top 10 overall
1. Thor Hushovd (Garmin Cervelo)
2. Cadel Evans (BMC) – 1 second behind
3. Frank Schleck (Leopoard) – 4 seconds
4. Andreas Kloden (RadioShack) – 10 seconds
5. Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard) – 12 seconds
6. Andy Schleck (Leopard) – 12 seconds
7. Tony Martin (HTC Highroad) – 13 seconds
8. Peter Velits (HTC Highroad) – 13 seconds
9. David Millar (Garmin Cervelo) – 19 seconds
10. Phillipe Gilbert (Omega) – 30 seconds
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