Key moments

The profile of the stage suggested it would suit a strong climber and a cunning, powerful and daring descender: that’s exactly the description for Luis Leon Sanchez. On the day that his team leader Oscar Pereiro abandoned, the Caisse d’Epargne rider took responsibility and put himself in an escape group that would hold off the peloton all the way to St-Giron. The finale of the stage was relatively tame, in contrast to the way it began when several GC contender – including Cadel Evans – opted to go for a long attack. His gamble would not pay off today but he did prove that he’s prepared to attack. The spoils for aggression, however, were all for LL Sanchez.

The Progress Report
The eighth stage of the 2009 Tour de France – from Andorra-la-Veille to St-Girons – began at 12.32pm. There were 176 riders at the start. The conditions were sunny with a temperature at the start of 25 degrees Celsius. The 176.5km stage featured three climbs: the category-one Port d’Envalira (2,408m high with the crest at 23.5km), the category-two col de Port (1,249m high at 102km) and the category-one col d’Agnes (1,570m high at 132.5km). The three intermediate sprints were in Luzenac (67km), Tarascon-sur-Ariege (84.5km) and Vic d’Oust (159.5km).

Evans Takes A Chance…
As soon as racing began, Calzati (AGR) attacked. He was joined briefly by Hupont (SKS) but then Txurruka, Martinez and Verdugo (EUS) took the lead. At 5km mark, Martinez went solo. He was caught by Paulinho (AST) and Uran (GCE) at 7km. Wegelius (SIL) joined the leading trio at the 11km mark. Casar (FDJ) caught the leader at the 15km mark and raced into the lead. Behind him a group of five formed: Evans (SIL), Martinez (EUS), Zabriskie (GRM), Efimkin (ALM) and Kern (COF).
Evans did all the work in this group until 200m before the summit. At the top Casar led Kern and Martinez by 52” and Evans by 55”.
The addition of 13pts to Kern’s climbing classification tally means he earns the polkad-dot jersey at the end of the stage.
The peloton was led by riders from the Astana team and crested the Port d’Envalira 1’50” behind Casar. Cancellara, Hushovd, Hincapie and Flecha caught the Evans quintet 38km. At 41km, the Evans group of nine was 45” behind Casar and the peloton (led by Astana) was at 1’35”. Casar was caught by the nine chasers at the 50km mark; the peloton was 48” behind. Evans, Martinez, Zabriskie and Kern eventually ceased their work in the lead and were caught at 63km.

Hushovd Into Green & Pereiro Out Of Tour
At the first intermediate sprint, Hushovd took first place and raced into the lead of the points classification. His group of six led by 30”. LL. Sanchez (GCE) and Ignatiev (KAT) caught the six escapees at 73km and Astaloza (EUS) and Rosseler (QSI) came across to the lead at 75km. At 76km, the 10 escapees were 40” ahead of the peloton. The 10 increased their advantage and, at the base of the Col de Port, were 1’40” ahead of the peloton. Pereiro (GCE) quit the Tour at the 90km mark.
Hushovd and Rosseler were dropped on the Col de Port. Casar led his escape group of eight over the summit. The peloton was 2’55” behind at the 102km mark. Hushovd was caught at the top but Rosseler later rejoined the lead group and led the nine-man break at the foot of the Col d’Agnes.

Col d’Agnes
In the first kilometer of the third climb, Cancellara stopped with his effort and waited for his colleagues. Andy Schleck made an acceleration with 9km to climb and thinned the group down to 18 riders which rode ahead of the yellow jersey. With 5km to climb the stage was led by Efimkin, Sanchez, Astarloza and Casar. They were 1’20” ahead of a group that included Sastre, Evans, Van den Broeck, Contador, Armstrong, Leipheimer, Kloden, A. Schleck, F. Schleck, Vande Velde, Wiggins, Kirchen, Martin, Nibali, Kreuziger and Karpets. Nocentini was 30” behind but he caught up with the elite pack 4km from the top.
Efimkin attacked 1,800m from the summit and was chased down by Sanchez and Astaloza. Casar was 30” behind with 1km to climb. Astarloza led over the top. Casar was at 18”, Hincapie at 1’28”, Rolland (BBO) at 2’05”… Zubeldia led the peloton over the top 2’45” behind. The Astana team led down the descent and then allowed AG2R to take charge of the peloton. They appeared content to allow the escape to remain clear – with Efimkin represented and the yellow jersey safe.

Sanchez Takes Another Win
The four leaders collaborated well and maintained a lead that hovered around two minutes for the final 40km. The least amount of work was done by Efimkin. Astarloza was the first to attack and his surge came with 4.5km to go but was reeled in by the other three then Efimkin surged ahead with 4km to go. He had a good lead but was caught in the final 1,200m. Sanchez bided his time and followed an aggressive and intent Casar all the way to the 100m to go mark when he pounced into the lead. It was the second stage victory in the Tour for the Spaniard in two years.
Nocentini finished 28th in the stage, in the peloton that was 1’54” behind Sanchez. He retains the yellow jersey.

After stage six the Cofidis team had the polka-dot jersey thanks to aggressive riding by Stephane Auge but he surrendered the lead in the climbing classification in Andorra. As the race returned to France, however, another member of the French squad put himself back in contention by taking second place at the Port d’Envalira…

“Yesterday I was really disappointed to finish second but eventually, in the evening, I realized that being the runner-up in Arcalis was something no one expected. So this morning I was very motivated. The polka-dot jersey was the goal of the day. On the first climb I had trouble to stay with Egoi Martinez and then Sandy Casar got the better of me but that’s fine.
“Right from the start of the Tour, the polka-dot jersey has been the target of the Cofidis team. Initially it was for David Moncoutie, but he has not scored any points. So I will do everything to try and keep it all the way to Paris. We know that to achieve this I must have the ‘complete package’ right from the start and collect as many points as possible We must make the most of the early climbs because I’m not sure if we’re capable of collecting points with the best on the final climbs.”

The AG2R La Mondiale team played a good tactical card by putting Vladimir Efimkin in the escape early today. This took some pressure off Rinaldo Nocentini’s squad in their first day of defending the yellow jersey….

“It was a really tough day after the effort I put in yesterday. I knew it would be the toughest day to keep the yellow jersey. Tomorrow, obviously there’s the Tourmalet – which is a very difficult climb, but it’s a long way from the finish – and I hope that the favorites won’t fight it out together.
“I knew that [Andy] Schleck and [Cadel] Evans would attack on the first climb. I know I can’t follow them so I just stayed calm. The AG2R boys really helped me out and Goubert stayed with me all the time and we managed to catch up before the top.
“It was the perfect scenario because we had Efimkin up the front and so we didn’t have to work and we left the responsibility of the chase to the Astana team.”

He won the stage to Barcelona at the top of a hill but today Thor Hushovd scaled a mountain with the pure climbers so that he could attack on the descent and chase down points at two intermediate ‘primes’. He achieved his quest and now wears the green jersey.

“I knew the climb was really hard but I felt strong yesterday so I just hung on as long as I could with the main group. I got to the top [of the Port d’Envalira] and attacked straight away on the descent and I could get these important points.
“It’s possible to win the green jersey by chasing points at intermediate sprints but Cavendish is fast and now, between the Pyrenees and the Alps, there are probably three stages suited to bunch finishes. So although anything is possible, 11 points is nothing. So I’ll take it day by day. Tomorrow I think I’ll have to save some of my energy because I went really deep today.
“It was hard to get over that first climb. I was on the tip of my saddle for a few kilometers but I knew I had to fight through it and then do a good descent and that allowed me to get the six points at the intermediate sprints. It was important for me.
“Of course the plan is to keep the green jersey as long as possible. I’m happy to have it for now and I’m going to try as hard as I can to keep it for as long as possible… maybe even all the way to Paris.”

The winner of the stage from Androrra to St-Girons has become the leader by default of the Caisse d’Epargne team. The squad began the Tour without its preferred captain and then, on the second Saturday of this year’s race, Oscar Pereiro abandoned. But Luis Leon Sanchez has given the team reason to believe in themselves again.

“The thing is that the Tour has had a really bad beginning for our team. Finally we don’t have Alejandro [Valverde] in the team but we are professional enough to know that we have a sponsor who supports us. I want dedicate this win to girlfriend and my family.
“The first week was really difficult for me. But now I have a victory. Now I will try to stay strong and be ambitious as I’m the leader of the team.
“We did a good race today but I was not alone, I had a good group in the escape and we all worked well together. I had a bit of luck because this win will change the mood in the team, there’ll be a more motivated atmosphere.
“I spoke with Astarloza when the gap was big and told him I would give him the stage win if I could take the yellow jersey. I had come back in June to do the Rud du Sud which went up the Col d’Agnes and I knew it was a stage for me. I had some experience after winning a stage last year and that added to my confidence but it’s still never easy. In the Spanish tradition, I’d like to start to focus on the general classification in the years to come. This year I rode less to be fitter for the Tour.”