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Costa wins TDF eighth stage

Super Besse - Portugal's Rui Alberto Costa held the peloton at bay to win the first medium mountain stage of the Tour de France in the Super-Besse ski resort on Saturday.

Even though the battle between the favourites raged in the last climb, the 24-year-old Movistar rider pulled away to win 12 seconds ahead of Belgian champion Philippe Gilbert, the winner of the first stage.

Australian Cadel Evans had been expected to snatch the yellow jersey following the 189 km race from Aigurande -- the first stage in this year's Tour with significant climbs. He finished third for his fourth podium placing in this edition but it was not enough to seize the Tour reins.

Norway's Thor Hushovd maintained his one-second overall lead over the Australian after a brave effort in which he finished in the same time as Evans.

The steep but short final climb saw the favourites test each other - three-times champions Alberto Contador was the first to surge but was immediately checked by Evans and Luxembourg's Andy Schleck.

The three were unable to react when Gilbert raised on his pedals to try vainly to go and catch Costa.

Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov also tried his luck in the penultimate second category ascent, Croix St Robert, hoping to achieve his dream of holding the yellow jersey in his last Tour.

But the Astana team leader was reined in on the final climb.

One of the pre-Tour favourites, Dutchman Robert Gesink was unable to follow the pace after injuring his arm in a crash earlier in the week and crossed the line 1:23 behind Costa.

Sunday's 208-km ninth stage between Issoire and St Flour is another bumpy one as eight hills feature on the day's course.

Overall standings after the eighth stage of the Tour de France, a 189.0km ride from Aigurande to Super-Besse on Saturday:

1. Thor Hushovd (NOR/GRM) 33h06min 28sec

2. Cadel Evans (AUS/BMC) at 0:01.

3. Frank Schleck (LUX/LEO) 0:04.

4. Andreas Kloden (GER/RSH) 0:10.

5. Jakob Diemer Fuglsang (DEN/LEO) 0:12.

6. Andy Schleck (LUX/LEO) 0:12.

7. Tony Martin (GER/HTC) 0:13.

8. Peter Velits (SVK/HTC) 0:13.

9. David Millar (GBR/GRM) 0:19.

10. Philippe Gilbert (BEL/OLO) 0:30.

11. Alexander Vinokourov (KAZ/AST) 0:32.

12. Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL/OLO) 0:39.

13. Ivan Basso (ITA/LIQ) 1:03.

14. Nicolas Roche (IRL/ALM) 1:12.

15. Damiano Cunego (ITA/LAM) 1:12.

16. Kevin De Weert (BEL/QST) 1:22.

17. Robert Gesink (NED/RAB) 1:28.

18. Jos Joaquin Rojas (ESP/MOV) 1:29.

19. Thomas Voeckler (FRA/EUC) 1:29.

20. Alberto Contador (ESP/SAX) 1:42.

21. Tom Danielson (USA/GRM) 1:57.

22. Christian Vande Velde (USA/GRM) 1:57.

23. Vladimir Karpets (RUS/KAT) 2:04.

24. Maxime Monfort (BEL/LEO) 2:11.

25. Linus Gerdemann (GER/LEO) 2:14.

26. Carlos Barredo (ESP/RAB) 2:25.

27. Rein Taaramae (EST/COF) 2:27.

28. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP/RSH) 2:35.

29. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) 2:36.

30. Yury Trofimov (RUS/KAT) 2:43.

31. Arnold Jeannesson (FRA/FDJ) 2:48.

32. Bjorn Leukemans (BEL/VAC) 2:54.

33. Jean Christophe Peraud (FRA/ALM) 3:07.

34. Rob Ruijgh (NED/VAC) 3:10.

35. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 3:18.

36. Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP/RAB) 3:23.

37. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/SKY) 3:29.

38. Jrme Pineau (FRA/QST) 3:31.

39. Jrome Coppel (FRA/SAU) 3:34.

40. Rui Costa (POR/MOV) 3:47.

41. Rigoberto Uran (COL/SKY) 4:24.

42. Levi Leipheimer (USA/RSH) 4:43.

43. Kristjan Koren (SLO/LIQ) 4:47.

44. Dries Devenyns (BEL/QST) 5:24.

45. Vladimir Gusev (RUS/KAT) 5:40.

46. Ryder Hesjedal (CAN/GRM) 5:46.

47. Cyril Gautier (FRA/EUC) 5:59.

48. Pierre Rolland (FRA/EUC) 6:34.

49. Bauke Mollema (NED/RAB) 7:01.

50. Sandy Casar (FRA/FDJ) 7:04.

51. Anthony Charteau (FRA/EUC) 7:16.

52. Gorka Verdugo (ESP/EUS) 7:27.

53. Maciej Paterski (POL/LIQ) 7:54.

54. David Moncouti (FRA/COF) 8:03.

55. Marco Marcato (ITA/VAC) 8:10.

56. Egoi Martinez (ESP/EUS) 10:01.

57. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/HTC) 10:03.

58. Jelle Vanendert (BEL/OLO) 10:14.

59. Johnny Hoogerland (NED/VAC) 10:17.

60. Laurens ten Dam (NED/RAB) 10:25.

61. George Hincapie (USA/BMC) 10:37.

62. Yannick Talabardon (FRA/SAU) 11:50.

63. Julien El Fars (FRA/COF) 12:01.

64. John Gadret (FRA/ALM) 12:22.

65. Juan Antonio Flecha (ESP/SKY) 12:28.

66. Hubert Dupont (FRA/ALM) 12:46.

67. Ruben Perez Moreno (ESP/EUS) 12:59.

68. Amets Txurruka (ESP/EUS) 13:14.

69. Remy Di Gregorio (FRA/AST) 13:51.

70. Daniel Oss (ITA/LIQ) 14:10.

71. Alexandre Kolobnev (RUS/KAT) 14:14.

72. Simon Gerrans (AUS/SKY) 14:43.

73. Sbastien Turgot (FRA/EUC) 14:52.

74. Tony Gallopin (FRA/COF) 14:52.

75. David Loosli (SUI/LAM) 15:09.

76. Egor Silin (RUS/KAT) 15:10.

77. Dmitriy Fofonov (KAZ/AST) 15:38.

78. Imanol Erviti (ESP/MOV) 16:02.

79. Adriano Malori (ITA/LAM) 16:37.

80. Maxime Bouet (FRA/ALM) 16:43.

81. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 17:00.

82. Steve Morabito (SUI/BMC) 17:01.

83. Ivan Gutierrez (ESP/MOV) 17:18.

84. Danilo Hondo (GER/LAM) 17:21.

85. Nicki Srensen (DEN/SAX) 18:08.

86. Brian Vandborg (DEN/SAX) 18:57.

87. David Arroyo (ESP/MOV) 19:50.

88. Markel Irizar (ESP/RSH) 20:42.

89. Chris Anker Srensen (DEN/SAX) 20:57.

90. Richie Porte (AUS/SAX) 21:05.

91. Christian Knees (GER/SKY) 21:09.

92. Sbastien Minard (FRA/ALM) 21:14.

93. Sylvester Szmyd (POL/LIQ) 21:18.

94. Amal Moinard (FRA/BMC) 21:35.

95. Arthur Vichot (FRA/FDJ) 22:07.

96. Sebastian Lang (GER/OLO) 22:07.

97. Andrej Zeits (KAZ/AST) 22:08.

98. Ivan Santaromita (ITA/BMC) 22:42.

99. Grischa Niermann (GER/RAB) 23:06.

100. Sbastien Hinault (FRA/ALM) 23:14.

101. Alan Perez Lezaun (ESP/EUS) 23:34.

102. Jens Voigt (GER/LEO) 23:46.

103. Mickael Delage (FRA/FDJ) 23:53.

104. Fabio-Leonardo Duque (COL/COF) 24:02.

105. Gianni Meersman (BEL/FDJ) 24:07.

106. Matthew Goss (AUS/HTC) 24:38.

107. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA/QST) 24:39.

108. Benjamin Noval (ESP/SAX) 24:39.

109. Lieuwe Westra (NED/VAC) 24:43.

110. Anthony Roux (FRA/FDJ) 24:54.

111. Roman Kreuziger (CZE/AST) 25:27.

112. Jrgen Roelandts (BEL/OLO) 25:43.

113. Mark Cavendish (GBR/HTC) 25:50.

114. William Bonnet (FRA/FDJ) 25:57.

115. Pavel Brutt (RUS/KAT) 26:04.

116. Daniel Navarro (ESP/SAX) 26:15.

117. Anthony Delaplace (FRA/SAU) 26:18.

118. Ben Swift (ENG/SKY) 26:40.

119. Alessandro Petacchi (ITA/LAM) 26:41.

120. Leonardo Bertagnolli (ITA/LAM) 26:47.

121. Thomas DE GEN (BEL/VAC) 27:48.

122. Romain Zingle (BEL/COF) 27:58.

123. Stuart O'Grady (AUS/LEO) 28:17.

124. Jeremie Galland (FRA/SAU) 28:27.

125. Brent Bookwalter (USA/BMC) 28:40.

126. Gorka Izagirre (ESP/EUS) 29:00.

127. Romain Feillu (FRA/VAC) 29:12.

128. Manuel Quinziato (ITA/BMC) 29:35.

129. Maartens Tjallingii (NED/RAB) 29:38.

130. Fabian Cancellara (SUI/LEO) 29:39.

131. Juan Manuel Garate (ESP/RAB) 29:41.

132. Alessandro Vanotti (ITA/LIQ) 30:03.

133. Yaroslav Popovych (UKR/RSH) 30:05.

134. Matteo Bono (ITA/LAM) 30:12.

135. Tristan Valentin (FRA/COF) 30:30.

136. Borut Bozic (SLO/VAC) 30:47.

137. Matteo Tosatto (ITA/SAX) 31:35.

138. Sergio Paulinho (POR/RSH) 31:42.

139. Grega Bole (SLO/LAM) 31:47.

140. Denis Galimzyanov (RUS/KAT) 32:01.

141. Yohann Gene (FRA/EUC) 32:05.

142. Michael Schr (SUI/BMC) 32:07.

143. Marcel Sieberg (GER/OLO) 32:13.

144. Paolo Tiralongo (ITA/AST) 32:22.

145. Lars Boom (NED/RAB) 32:55.

146. Frederik Willems (BEL/OLO) 33:08.

147. Tomas Vaitkus (LTU/AST) 33:16.

148. Joost Posthuma (NED/LEO) 33:36.

149. Mikhail Ignatiev (RUS/KAT) 33:42.

150. Maciej Bodnar (POL/LIQ) 34:02.

151. Xavier Zandio (ESP/SKY) 34:09.

152. Jonathan Hivert (FRA/SAU) 34:52.

153. Julian Dean (NZL/GRM) 34:59.

154. Francisco Ventoso (ESP/MOV) 35:03.

155. Ramunas Navardauskas (LTU/GRM) 35:28.

156. Denys Kostyuk (UKR/LAM) 35:38.

157. Andriy Grivko (UKR/AST) 35:45.

158. Paolo Longo Borghini (ITA/LIQ) 35:51.

159. Tyler Farrar (USA/GRM) 35:56.

160. Wout Poels (NED/VAC) 36:07.

161. Danny Pate (USA/HTC) 36:31.

162. Laurent Mangel (FRA/SAU) 37:29.

163. Arnaud Coyot (FRA/SAU) 38:13.

164. Maxim Iglinskiy (KAZ/AST) 38:14.

165. Bernhard Eisel (AUT/HTC) 38:29.

166. Fabrice Jeandesboz (FRA/SAU) 38:41.

167. Marcus Burghardt (GER/BMC) 39:58.

168. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/COF) 40:46.

169. Niki Terpstra (NED/QST) 40:46.

170. Andr Greipel (GER/OLO) 41:02.

171. Mark Renshaw (AUS/HTC) 41:27.

172. Lars Ytting Bak (DEN/HTC) 42:50.

173. Gerald Ciolek (GER/QST) 44:03.

174. Jeremy Roy (FRA/FDJ) 44:17.

175. David Zabriskie (USA/GRM) 46:28.

176. Pablo Urtasun (ESP/EUS) 46:33.

177. Perrig Quemeneur (FRA/EUC) 48:37.

178. Fabio Sabatini (ITA/LIQ) 48:57.

179. Jimmy Engoulvent (FRA/SAU) 49:36.

180. Audrey Amador (CRC/MOV) 49:57.

181. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 49:57.

182. Dmitry Muravyev (KAZ/RSH) 50:28.

183. Michael Buffaz (FRA/COF) 51:16.

184. Vladimir Isaichev (RUS/KAT) 51:23.

185. Jesus Hernandez (ESP/SAX) 53:06.

186. Addy Engels (NED/QST) 53:39.

187. Gert Steegmans (BEL/QST) 1h01:51.

188. Vincent Jrme (FRA/EUC) 1h09:13.

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