Andy Schleck wins in Avoriaz; Evans takes yellow

Tour de France 2010 stage 8 video highlights>>

Tour de France 2010 stage 8 photo gallery by Graham Watson>>

Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) won the eighth stage of the Tour de France by outsprinting Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) into the ski station of Avoriaz, above the Alpine town of Morzine.

The pair escaped from a select group of riders in the final kilometre of the stage, gaining a handful of seconds on other overall rivals such as Alberto Contador (Astana), Cadel Evans (BMC) and Ivan Basso (Liquigas).

With yellow jersey Sylvan Chavenel losing over 10 minutes on the stage, Evans has now moved into the overall lead, 20 seconds ahead of Schleck, with Contador just over a minute down.

Britain's Bradley Wiggins finished 18th after apparently cracking and getting dropped from the front group in the final four kilometres. He was shepherded across the line by team mate Thomas Lovkvist over one and a half minutes back. He now sits fourteenth in the overall classification, 2-45 down.

But if Wiggins had a bad day, Lance Armstrong's was far worse. The American got dropped on the third to last climb after having suffered two crashes earlier in the stage.

That he then got tangled up in a third spill as he chased behind, was the final indignity of what he described as "just a bad day". By the end of the stage he had lost 11-45 and all hope of being an overall contender in his last Tour de France.

Aside from the early spills and the formation of a seven man breakaway at 28km, the action started to hot up 50km from the line, on the first category Col de la Ramaz. Wiggins must have been feeling good at this point because Sky had Juan Antonio Flecha and Lovkvist driving on the front.

When news broke of Armstrong (who'd not long finished chasing back on after his second crash on a rounadabout) being dropped 5km from the summit, the Saxo Bank and Astana teams quickly chipped in with the effort too.

Following the descent from the Ramaz and the third category drag up to Les Gets, Armstrong was caught in yet another accident by a rider being handed up some food. Already off the back of the main group by a considerable margin, he showed a definite lack of urgency to get going again. Sporting cuts and ripped clothing, he already knew his overall ambitions were over.

On the climb up from the Morzine the main pack of contenders were driven by Astana. An attack from Katusha's Joaquin Rodriguez reined in the last of the day's early break but he too was brought back.

It was in the closing 5km that Wiggins started to show his frailty, slowly drifting to the back of the ever shrinking group before he lost a couple of lengths on them with 3km to go. This gap then suddenly extended and Wiggins knew he was in damage limitation territory.

"There came a point I just couldn't afford to keep hanging onto that group without completely exploding," he explained afterwards.

At the front of the group Kreuziger was the next to try his luck with a solo attack, but Contador was wise to it. Robert Gesink then made a darting move down the left with 1.7km to go and was joined by Sanchez. But Contador and Schleck then pulled the 13 rider group back up to this too.

It was after the kilometre flag that Schleck made his move and Contador clearly couldn't respond. However Sanchez was able to jump across and looked sure to win the sprint.

Moving to the front and powering towards the line, the Olympic Champion appered to have it in the bag. But surprisingly Schleck came round him again and took his first ever Tour stage win.

Although Evans was among the contenders to lose ten seconds to Schleck, he admitted he was "happy to finish with Contador today."

RESULTS

Tour de France 2010, stage eight: Stationdes Rousses - Morzine Avoriaz, 189km

1. Andy Schleck (Lux) Saxo Bank 4h 54m 11s

2. Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel st

3. Robert Gesink (Ned ) Rabobank at 10sec

4. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas

5. Alberto Contador (Esp) Astana

6. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC

7. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto

8. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Radioshack

9. Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas

10. Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank all st

Other

19. Bradley Wiggins (GB) Team Sky at 1-45

49. Charly Wegelius (GB) Omega Pharma-Lotto at 6-30

61. Lance Armstrong (USA) RadioShack at 11-45

142. Daniel Lloyd (GB) Cervelo at 27-49

144. Geraint Thomas (GB) Team Sky at 27-49

155. David Millar (GB) Garmin-Transitions at 31-43

174. Mark Cavendish (GB) HTC-Columbia at 32-34

180. Steve Cummings (GB) Team Sky at 32-34

183. Jeremy Hunt (GB) Cervelo at 32-34

General classification after stage eight

1. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC 37h 59m 29s

2. Andy Schleck (Lux) Saxo Bank at 20sec

3. Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana at 1-01

4. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto at 1-03

5. Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank at 1-10

6. Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin Transitions at 1-11

7. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas at 1-45

8. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Radioshack at 2-14

9. Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel at 2-15

10. Robert Gesink (Ned ) Rabobank at 2-31

Other

12. Carlos Sastre (Spa) Cervelo at 2-40

13. Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo at 2-41

14. Bradley Wiggins (GB) Team Sky at 2-45

39. Lance Armstrong (USA) RadioShack at 13-26

69. Geraint Thomas (GB) Team Sky at 30-51

83. Charly Wegelius (GB) Omega Pharma-Lotto at 41-11

117. David Millar (GB) Garmin-Transitions at 50-10

135. Steve Cummings (GB) Team Sky at 55-59

149. Mark Cavendish (GB) HTC-Columbia at 1-01-23

159. Daniel Lloyd (GB) Cervelo at 1-06-53

160. Jeremy Hunt (GB) Cervelo at 1-07-22

Points classification: Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo

Mountains classification: Jerome Pineau (Fra) Quick Step

Best young rider: Andy Schleck (Lux) Saxo Bank

Team: Rabobank

Not happy: Lance Armstrong's poor luck continued with another crash-marred stage

Bradley Wiggins (front) in the group containing Alberto Contador (l) and Cadel Evans

Andy Schleck launches the winning attack

Cadel Evans takes the race lead

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Tour de France 2010: Stage reports

Stage seven: Chavanel wins stage and takes overall as Thomas drops out of Tour's white

Stage six: Cavendish makes it two as Tour hots up

Stage five: Cavendish wins his first stage of Tour

Stage four: Petacchi wins into Reims

Stage three: Hushovd takes dramatic win; Thomas second on stage and GC

Stage three live coverage: As it happened

Stage two: Comeback man Chavanel takes victory in Spa

Stage one: Petacchi wins in Brussels as bunch left in tatters

Prologue: Cancellara pips Martin to win

Tour de France 2010: Photos

Stage seven photo gallery

Stage six photo gallery

Stage five photo gallery

Stage four photo gallery

Stage three photo gallery

Stage two photo gallery

Stage one gallery

Prologue photo gallery

Tour de France 2010: Videos

Stage seven video highlights

Stage six video highlights

Stage five video highlights

Stage four video highlights

Stage three video highlights

Stage two video highlights

Stage one video highlights

Prologue video highlights

Tour de France 2010: Race guide

Tour de France 2010: Cycling Weekly's coverage index

Official start list, with race numbers

Brits at the Tour 2010

Tout team guide

Tour jerseys: What they are and what they mean

Brits in the Tours: From Robinson to Wiggins

Tour de France 2010: Pictures

Tour team presentation, Rotterdam

Tour teams take to the cobbles: Photo special