Evans and Schleck up, Armstrong down in stage 8
The first Mountain Stage of the 2010 Tour de France proved to be one of the most eventful races of the first part of the Tour. The 38-year old, seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong has lost his chance at an 8th.
At 133km, Armstrong had the first of three crashes which left him 11’45” behind the stage winner and out of the running for the yellow jersey in the overall classification.
"I felt strong before and proved before today that my condition is good. I just couldn't recover from the fall," Armstrong told reporters after Sunday's stage. "I'll maybe spend a few days healing up. This is a long race. Obviously, [winning] the Tour is over for me, but I can stay in the race and maybe win some stages and hope I can help the team. I'll just appreciate my time here and appreciate the fact that I'm not coming back.”
The eighth stage was taken by the next generation. 25-year-old Andy Schleck took the stage win as well as wearing the Young Rider’s white jersey. A mountain-top sprint earned him a second-place standing in the overall classification, behind Cadel Evans, who finished sixth in the eighth stage and won the yellow jersey from Sylvain Chavanel.
“It’s been a really good day but I admit: I miss my brother when I’m riding up there at the front of the peloton and I’m suffering and hurting,” said Schleck. “I wasn’t suffering too badly today. I feel really good. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, I have the best shape of my life. I showed at the end that I have some punch. I have good power now and I have to remind myself, ‘Don’t be stupid and stuff it up’. I have to try and get the maximum out of myself and get the yellow jersey.”
Evans climbed to the first place overall despite a crash early in the stage. He finished 10” behind Schleck, the stage winner, but has managed to maintain a 20” lead over Schleck, the runner-up in general classification.
"I can’t quite believe it just yet,” said Evans. “The cameras probably didn’t catch the crash in the first kilometers. I hit the ground pretty hard but fortunately I took all the impact on my arm and not on my legs but it make it a hard day even harder. In the end, Schleck went away but I had to conserve a little bit. It wasn’t an easy stage and the wind made it difficult to judge in the final but at this point I’m in a great position. I’ve got an advantage over Contador and when you look at our history that’s a good thing to have.”
At the 6km mark, Evans was involved in a crash with Jerome Pineau and Roman Kreuziger. Pineau, who has held the best climber classification for the entire race so far, later punctured a tire.
“It is a day did not start the best way, since I went down after less than 15km of racing, while we were speeding along at 60 km/h,” said Pineau. “I smashed my elbow, buttock, and I have an especially sore neck. I initially spent a lot of time to regain my place in the peloton, especially since I have been slowed by a puncture. The good news of the day is that I kept the polka-dot jersey. But I do not see how I could keep it to Paris, or so I’d have to switch back to a day ahead in the mountains. It is not certain that I can find the opportunity.”
The escape was lead by 1’15” when they reached the base of the final climb. At 3.5km from the finish, Bradley Wiggins fell out of the lead group, leaving it open to an attack by Robert Gesink, then another by Roman Kreuziger. At 700m from the finish line, Schleck broke free, sprinting into the lead to win his first stage at the Tour.
“I take some really good morale from knowing that I could attack and not have Contador follow me,” said Schleck Maybe he takes it the other way but I’m happy. For me it’s a fantastic stage win – everything worked out to be perfect. It’s hard but the team can have confidence in me and I promise to them that I’ll fight until Paris – I’ll fight until I fall off my bike. I hope you’ll see me in the yellow jersey as soon as possible but I predict… ah, the Pyrenees.”
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