2011 Tour de France, Stage 8

Rui Costa (Movistar) won the first mountain stage, the sole survivor of a breakaway that began at 8 km on the 190 km Aigurande - Super-Besse Sancy stage. Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) were 2nd and 3rd at 0:00:12 and 0:00:15. Thor Hushovd continues to amaze, holding on to the yellow jersey for yet another day.

It also was the first victory in the Tour de France for Campagnolo's electronic gruppo which will be coming to market soon.

Damiano Cunego, who finished 7th at 0:00:15 said, "Today's stage was my first test, so I was curious about my condition. I would say that I have had good results: in the key moment, I was lively and I also tried to move at the right time to try to gain a few seconds." Cunego moved into 15th place.


Ivan Basso, also finishing at 0:00:15, moved up to 13th position. He commented, "There are no easy stages in the Tour. The beauty of this tour is the amazing competitive spirit, there is nothing to be taken for granted. For me it was another good day. So far, there has been little climbing but so much stress. Tomorrow will be a challenging stage."


Top 10 GC:
1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Team Garmin-Cervelo 33:06:28
2 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:01
3 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:00:04
4 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team RadioShack 0:00:10
5 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek 0:00:12
6 Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek
7 Tony Martin (Ger) HTC-Highroad 0:00:13
8 Peter Velits (Svk) HTC-Highroad
9 David Millar (GBr) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:00:19
10 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:00:30

Photo: Bettini

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