Thibaut Pinot won Stage 8 of the Tour at Porrentruy. He finished solo ahead of the group with Wiggins and is the first French win of the race. Wiggins held onto the yellow jersey and Cadel Evans is in second place. On the last of 7 climbs of the day, the Col de la Croix, Pinot made his move. The chase group came close during the last 15k but he made it to the finish alone for the win.
Cadel Evans of the BMC Racing Team sprinted to his second consecutive runner-up finish Sunday at the Tour de France to hold onto his second place overall behind Thibaut Pinot.
Time Trial Monday
Evans was part of a select group that included race leader Bradley Wiggins (Sky Procycling) that launched a furious chase of Pinot over the top of the final climb, 16 kilometers from the finish of the 157.5 km race. The result caused a few more pre-race favorites to lose time. Evans said the past two stages have followed a different pattern than years past. “People are isolated and a lot of the leaders are isolated, especially guys like Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol Team) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team), who have already lost time and are willing to put it out there.” Evans remains 10 seconds behind Wiggins heading into Monday’s 41.5 km individual time trial in France from Arc-et-Senans to Besancon.
Reconnaissance Helped
BMC Racing Team Directeur Sportif John Lelangue said a reconnaissance session after the Tour de Romandie in early May revealed the technical nature of the descent to the finish. “We knew from the reco every second would count,” he said. “It was a good place at the end, we were in the fight and we even put one guy in the breakaway with Amaël Moinard, which put a little bit of pressure on Sky.” Lelangue said not having the race lead has been advantageous to this point. “It’s perfect for us that we don’t have the yellow jersey so we don’t have to control too much. It’s also been perfect for us that there are some guys who are close (to the lead) and want to make the race a little harder and some guys who have lost two or three minutes and want to make up time.”
