Kadri Wins Tour De France Stage Eight

Last updated : 12 July 2014 By Covsupport News Service

Blel Kadri of AG2R has won the eighth stage of the Tour De France.

There has been plenty of climbs in Yorkshire but things had been pretty flat or on the cobbles until today when the race went decidedly upwards with a 161 kilometres stage from Tomblaine to Gérardmer La Mauselaine.

British rider Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge), IAM Cycling Sylvain Chavanel, Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma Quick Step),  Blel Kadri (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Adrien Petit (Cofidis), finally started a break which was 3.38 ahead with 117kms to go.

With no-one a threat to Vincenzo Nibali's yellow jersey, the gap started to go out as Bart De Clercq (Lotto-Belisol) became the fourteenth rider to abandon the Tour.

That gap was 10.20 with 89kms to go and 10.44 fifteen kilometres later as they went through the feedzone at speeds for the first two hours of 45.5kmh.

As the rain came down, Terpstra took the twenty points for the sprint with Peter Sagan again taking points to keep in the lead for the Green Jersey.

The gap to the five escapers was 11.11 with less than fifty kilometres remaining. The rain which had got a lot heavier was making things difficult and the peloton were able to slowly edge towards the escapers.

The escapers were 6.13 clear when they started on the category two Col de la Croix des Moinats, which is 7.6km long and has a 6% average gradient.

With 25kms left, Sylvain Chavanel attacked and Blel Kadri, who was second in the King Of The Mountain competition, chased after him. 

Kadri passed Chavanel and was fifty seconds clear of Chavanel as he went over the top of the Col de la Croix des Moinats.

Down the descent, Kadri maintained his lead and started on the Col de Grosse Pierre which was 3.5kms long with an average gradient of 7.%, some four minutes ahead of the peloton which had Nicholas Roche on the front for Tinkoff Saxo, working for Alberto Contador, whilst Nibali followed.

Kadri took that climb ahead of Chavanel and Yates who took two points, before starting on the final La Mauselaine climb which was 1.8km long with gradients averaging at 10.3%, some 3.29 clear of the yellow jersey group.

Under the flam rouge, Kadri, who won with a solo effort in the Roma Maxima, went and he kept going to win in 3.49.28 as Nibali and Contador battled it out behind him with Team Sky's Richie Porte and Peraud.

Nibali just watched Contador and allowed him over the line first, some 2.17 behind Kadri. Nibali finished three seconds later with Porte in fourth.and Thibaut Pinot fifth.

"I am really, really happy. It is an amazing feeling I have right now," said Kadri. "I told them today I really wanted to go for it. I wanted to be in the escape and it is a day which might suit me and that was what happened. "

"I knew that Chavanel was going to attack and I took my time, knowing that he would tire a bit. I though I would not wait for him and I just went on my own. It was risky taking the jump so early but I just had to do it.

"I am delighted for myself and the team as well. The main aim was to win the stage and the King Of The Mountains jersey is important and we have to work as a team to preserve that.But the Tour is a very long race with many stages still to come."

Nibali leads the race by 1,44 over Jakob Fuglsang of Astana, 1.58 over Team Sky's Richie Porte, 2,26 over Michal Kwiatkowski of Omega Pharma - Quick-Step and 2.27 over Alejandro Valverde of Movistar.