It was a chilly and rainy day on the stage 8 route from Figeac to Toulouse at 172.5 km. The pace
Mark Cavendish winning Stage 8
was very fast even so. The finish proved to be very slippery and tricky but without incident. Mark Cavendish gets the win with Gerald Ciolek pulling out second leveraging a strong Columbia and Quickstep train. Team Columbia can do no wrong…at least for now. It is time to enjoy the moment as the pain comes tomorrow and Monday in the form of the Pyrenees.
The major move of the day was by Lefevere, who got away at 39k, later bridged too by Txurruk, Pineau, and Riblon. This group maintained the break for most of the stage but was finally caught at 10km from the finish where attacks blew the group apart on the final climb into town.
Team Liquigas took lead to drive the ship into the finish in an effort to get their man in place for the sprint and maybe to take a bit of the sting out of the Manuel Beltran incident. Later Team Columbia, Quickstep and Credit Agricole got up front to set up their sprinters as well. Position was the key for the sprint as there were several turns leading into the straight up final kilometer. The speed with these conditions was over the top.
There were fewer wrecks than expected though Riccardo Ricco, Voigt, and Columbia’s Ciolek, hit the deck with 50km to go down. No real damage though as demonstrated by Ciolek’s stellar finish. The question of the day is where is Robbie McEwen? He finished 19th today but has been out of the top five. Is it form, team or position that has him absent in the finishes this year? I can’t figure it.
Stage 8 map and elevation profile: http://tinyurl.com/5a7zy9
Race Reports
Cycling News: http://tinyurl.com/57y3t5
Stage 8 Results
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Columbia
2 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Columbia
3 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Agritubel
4 Oscar Freire (Spa) Rabobank
5 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner
6 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram
7 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quick Step
8 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française des Jeux
9 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole
10 Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld
Overall Results
1 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia
2 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence – Lotto, 0.06
3 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner, 0.16
4 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30, 0.44
5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank, 1.03
6 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne, 1.12
6 comments
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July 12, 2008 at 1:58 pm
mm
Great finish!
On the Rocket Robbie McEwen question (apart from the possibility of flagging form):
I think all eggs are in the Evans’ basket – they left the train at the station in order to bring along some lieutenants for the high mountain stages.
July 12, 2008 at 5:29 pm
allez915
In the past, he has mitigated lack of a solid team by latching on to other teams or key riders. But I see you’re point. Nothing like having a ticket to you’re own train.
Allez
July 12, 2008 at 5:33 pm
mm
Plus, this has been a consistent critique from Evans of Lotto; that they have not focused 100% on sending the Mt. Goat squad.
That said, I think Robbie lost the eye of the tiger.
Guess it is time to start chasing chickens in a pen again.
July 12, 2008 at 5:39 pm
allez915
Yes and bench pressing lumber, running in the snow from the Eastern Block’s unreliable cars and jump roping super fast to brass and percussion while avoiding the pitfalls of Drago’s crutch…the needle
Allez
July 12, 2008 at 5:56 pm
mm
“…you’ll be eatin’ lightning…and crappin’ thunder!…”
July 12, 2008 at 6:02 pm
allez915
Go for the ribs, don’t let that bastard breathe!