Key moments

Rasmussen: The Flying Chicken Strikes Again!

For the second day in a row the winner of the stage has claimed the lead of two classifications: the star of the day to Tignes was Michael Rasmussen. He claimed the victory after attacking early on the fourth of six climbs. He raced into the lead soon afterwards and continued to build on his advantage over the title favorites. It was a day of disappointment for the T-Mobile squad that not only lost the yellow jersey but also saw its team leader Michael Rogers abandon after bad crash on the descent of the Cormet de Roseland. He had been the virtual leader but succumbed to the injuries he sustained in a battle of attrition. Linus Gerdemann’s moment in the sun ended when he finished 20th in the stage over five minutes behind the only Danish rider in the race, the man affectionately known as ’Chicken’.

The 8th stage – a 165km ride from Le Grand-Bornand to Tignes – began at 12.52pm. There were 180 riders at the start, with no overnight retirements.
There were six climbs in the stage: Cat-4 Col du Marais (3.8km long at 4.1%); Cat-3 Cote de Bouchet-Mont-Charvin (2km at 7.1%); Cat-2 Col de Temie (9.5km at 4.0%); Cat-1 Cormet de Roseland (19.9km at 6.0%); Cat-1 Montee d’Hauteville (15.3km at 4.7%) and the final ascent: the cat-1 Montee de Tignes (18.0km at 5.4%). The intermediate sprints were in Faverges (at 36km) and Albertville (60km).

Rapid Start To Stage…
Jegou (FDJ) attacked in the first kilometre and was quickly chased down by Schumacher (GST), Efimkin (BAR), Auge (COF) and Sieberg (MRM). At the first climb their advantage was 25”. It was over before the first climb. Schumacher insisted and ensured he was part of the next escape group but it was Voeckler who was the most aggressive. He attacked after the second summit and reached a lead of 30” before being caught by 17 others at 41km. The lead group formed on the 3rd climb and composed of: Gutierrez (GCE), Rogers (TMO), Voigt (CSC), Aerts (PRL), Goubert and Arrieta (A2R), Azanza and Verdugo (EUS), Kohl (GST), Le Mevel (C.A), Hincapie (DSC), Auge and Moreni (COF), Willems (LIQ), Vaugrenard (FDJ), Millar (SDV) and Voeckler (BTL). At the top of the Col de Tamie, Voeckler and Schumacher sprinted ahead to contest the sprint for points.
The peloton was led by Weening (RAB) while four T-Mobile riders followed but didn’t contribute to the pacesetting as Rogers was the best-placed overall of those in the escape group. The average speed for the 1st hour was 42.4km/h. At the 46.5km mark, the peloton was 1’30” behind the 18 escapees.
The maximum gain of the escape was 2’05” at the Albertville sprint.

Cormet de Roseland
As the leaders began the 4th ascent their advantage over the peloton was 1’45”. Kohl was the first to accelerate. Rasmussen attacked the peloton with 10km to climb. The Austrian stage leader was joined by Colom and Le Mevel at the 93km mark and Rogers, Rasmussen, Arroyo (GCE) and Goubert at the 94km mark. Rasmussen led the escape group over the top. There were five others with him: Kohl, Arroyo, Rogers, Goubert and Colom. Then came Le Mevel at 52” and Hincapie led the second group (of seven men) over the summit 1’25” later. Rogers became the virtual leader with 2km to climb… at the summit Gerdemann’s peloton – which included most of the favourites for the Tour – was at 5’10”.

Rogers, Arroyo & O’Grady Crash On Descent
The virtual leader, Rogers and Arroyo crashed at the 110km mark. Both quickly remounted and continued on with their attack. At the 115km mark they were 35” behind Colom, Rasmussen, Goubert and Kohl. The peloton was at 4’25”. The two fallen riders were back in the lead at the 118km mark. Other riders in crashes on the descent were: O’Grady and Niermann. At the 128km mark, Rogers was at 2’30”; Le Mevel, Gutierrez, Hincapie, Paulinho, Verdugo, Txurruka, Moreni and Voigt were at 3’20” and the yellow jersey’s peloton at 4’30”. Rogers consulted the team doctor but couldn’t continue. He stepped off and retired at the 138km mark. His compatriot O’Grady abandoned the Tour and was taken to hospital in Moutier in an ambulance after complaining of back pain. Rasmussen did all the work for the leading trio. He crested the summit with Colom and Arroyo on his wheel. The second group included: Paulinho, Hincapie, Gutierrez, Txurruka and Le Mevel – and was 4’55”. The yellow jersey’s peloton was led by the Astana team and was 6’15” behind Rasmussen at the summit.

Rasmussen Flies Into The Lead
With 20km to go, Rasmussen attacked again and disposed of Arroyo and Colom for the final time. He would not be seen again until the end of the stage. The main animator of the main pack was Moreau (A2R) and Mayo (SDV). Their efforts reduced the chase group to just seven: Moreau, Mayo, Evans (PRL), Kashechkin (AST), Schleck (CSC), Contador (DSC) and Valverde. None of the attacks stuck and these seven stayed together for most of the climb until Mayo launched ahead with 5km to go. He finished 2’47” behind Rasmussen. The Danish rider not only won the stage but claimed the lead in both the general and climbing classifications.
Linus Gerdemann (TMO) finished 20th, 5’05” behind Rasmussen. The Danish Rabobank rider will wear the yellow jersey in stage nine on Tuesday 17 July.

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Erik Dekker - "This is the new Rasmussen..."

A directeur sportif for the Rabobank team is realistic about the chance of Michael Rasmussen holding on to the yellow jersey all the way to Paris but at least, for the time being, he is the start of the Tour de France again. "He’s sure to hold onto the lead for at least one day," joked Erik Dekker on the eve of the rest day. "But I think we’ll see a lot more of him in the Pyrenees too."

“The peloton makes what Rasmussen achieved today possible. Yesterday we saw that everybody was very afraid. There are no teams that can ride like Discovery did for the last few years of Lance’s reign and so it’s a completely different race. I was wondering what would happen if Rasmussen attacked yesterday on the Colombiere climb; he didn’t but I think he could have won.
“Today everybody paid for their misjudgment: Michael took a few minutes and although they chased, they didn’t get closer. And he’s so good that he didn’t lose any time… not even on the final climb when all the favorites were attacking each and riding very quickly.
“This is the new Rasmussen. He has a lot of confidence now and although he’s leading the general classification, for him to win he needs a lot more time on the others to be able to win the Tour de France.”

Linus Gerdemann - "We have to consider our options..."

The T-Mobile team celebrated yesterday but took several major blows in stage eight. The designated leader, Michael Rogers, was in control during an escape and worked up an advantage that made him a virtual leader of the Tour... then he crashed. He had to abandon because of the injuries he sustained. His young German colleague, and the star of stage seven, tried gallantly to retain his yellow jersey but he missed out by just 43 seconds.

“I tried as hard as I could and although I didn’t think I could catch Michael Rasmussen, I did think for a while that it would be possible to keep the yellow jersey. I gave it everything that I had and I think that it was something I can be proud of.
“It was not a good day for the team. Michael was our leader and to see him crash out of contention is very upsetting. We now have to look at what we can do. Tomorrow is a rest day and we have time to reflect and consider our options.
“Kim Kirchen helped me so much on the final climb and I cannot thank him enough for the work he did. He was working like an animal for me and it’s really great to have team-mates like this.”

Michael Rasmussen - "Everything is possible..."

He’s won the King of the Mountains crown for the last two years thanks largely to two days on powerful attacking and Michael Rasmussen found the energy for another coup today. The rider nicknamed ’Chicken’ flew away from the field on the Cormet de Roseland, into the lead on the final ascent and onward to victory at the summit in Tignes. The winner of stage eight now also owns the yellow and polka-dot jerseys.

“The goal at the start of the day was to get rid of all the frustration of not riding for the victory yesterday. I got caught a little off guard and today I made up for it. We tried to keep the race under control today. The break was always within striking distance and, at the bottom of the Roseland climb, so I saw my opportunity.
“It was quite surprising that I was able to put time into the peloton on the second last climb because it wasn’t really suitable for riding alone – there was a lot of wind and the ascent was not particularly steep – but at the end there was quite a big battle behind me and everybody was suffering as much as I did at the front.
“I have a very strong team, we’ve proven that in the last couple of days so everything is possible, including defending both jerseys. The Pyrenees are even harder than the Alpine stages so everything is still wide open and I still have to negotiate 110km of time trialing and that’s not exactly my specialty so I think I need to be realistic about yellow… but the polka-dot jersey is what I’m most interested in and I think I can defend that well.”

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