Pinot wins TDF Stage 8

Belfort - Britain's Bradley Wiggins defended the Tour de France yellow jersey on the second day in the hills after seeing his race lead come under attack for the first time on Sunday.

Frenchman Thibaut Pinot of FDJ won the eighth stage, his maiden win on what is his debut, after 157.5km of racing over several short but steep climbs in the Swiss Jura that exacted a toll on the peloton.

Defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC) finished second at 26 seconds, the Australian leading home a select group after a failed attempt to shake off Wiggins on the way to the last summit and on the 16km descent to the finish.

Among the finishers with Evans was Italian rival Vincenzo Nibali, Frank Schleck of Luxembourg and Belgian Jurgen Van den Broeck.

Wiggins, spending his first day in the yellow jersey after his third place finish on Saturday at La Planche des Belles Filles, retained his 10 second lead on second placed Evans with Liquigas rider Nibali still third at 16.

Pinot, a climbing specialist who at 22-years-old is the youngest rider in this year's race, had pressured team manager Marc Madiot to take him to the three-week epic.

And despite starting the day with instructions to stay in the peloton, he seized his chance after team-mate Jeremy Roy, who had been in an earlier breakaway, was reeled in but did plenty of the groundwork for him.

Pinot eventually went off on his own and caught Swede Fredrik Kessiakoff of Astana on the seventh and final climb of the day, the 3.7km-long Col de la Croix.

He came over the summit with a small lead and rode hard on the 16km descent to claim the first French win of this year's renewal.

"It's a dream come true," said Pinot, who is from the nearby Franche-Comte region.

"I just did the longest 10km of my life, I'll never forget it. I was quite scared when I heard the peloton had closed the gap to 50 seconds.

"But a lot of this is down to Jeremy (Roy). He did a lot of the preparation work for me, I can't thank him enough."

Earlier in the stage Spain's Olympic road race champion Samuel Sanchez crashed, suffering shoulder and hand injuries that could rule him out of the London Olympics later this month.

Kessiakoff's efforts meanwhile did not go unrewarded. He took over possession of the best climber's polka dot jersey from Britain's Chris Froome of Team Sky.

Monday's ninth stage is the first of two long time trials in the race, a 41.5km race against the clock around Besancon.

Results from eighth stage of Tour de France a 157.5km ride from Belfort to Porrentruy on Sunday:

1. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 3hr 56min 10sec (average speed: 40km/h)
2. Cadel Evans (AUS/BMC) at 0:26sec
3. Tony Gallopin (FRA/RSH) 0:26.
4. Bradley Wiggins (GBR/SKY) 0:26.
5. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/LIQ) 0:26.
6. Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL/LTB) 0:26.
7. Chris Froome (GBR/SKY) 0:26.
8. Denis Menchov (RUS/KAT) 0:26.
9. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP/RSH) 0:26.
10. Frank Schleck (LUX/RSH) 0:30.
11. Chris Horner (USA/RSH) 0:30.
12. Fredrik Kessiakoff (SWE/AST) 0:47.
13. Nicolas Roche (EIR/ALM) 1min 25sec
14. Chris Anker Sorensen (DEN/SAX) 1:25.
15. Maxime Monfort (BEL/RSH) 1:25.
16. Pierre Rolland (FRA/EUC) 1:25.
17. Michele Scarponi (ITA/LAM) 1:25.
18. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) 1:25.
19. Rui Costa (POR/MOV) 1:25.
20. Levi Leipheimer (USA/OPQ) 1:25.
21. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/AST) 1:25.
22. Christian Vande Velde (USA/GRM) 1:25.
23. Jelle Vanendert (BEL/LTB) 1:25.
24. Ivan Basso (ITA/LIQ) 1:25.
25. Remy Di Gregorio (FRA/COF) 2:21.
26. Rein Taaramae (EST/COF) 2:21.
27. Laurens ten Dam (NED/RAB) 2:21.
28. Peter Velits (SVK/OPQ) 2:21.
29. Gorka Izagirre (ESP/EUS) 2:21.
30. Andreas Kloden (GER/RSH) 2:21.
31. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 2:21.
32. David Moncoutié (FRA/COF) 2:21.
33. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 2:21.
34. Jérome Coppel (FRA/SAU) 2:21.
35. Giampaolo Caruso (ITA/KAT) 2:21.
36. Dmitriy Fofonov (KAZ/AST) 2:21.
37. Alexander Vinokourov (KAZ/AST) 2:21.
38. Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (ESP/MOV) 2:21.
39. Robert Kiserlovski (CRO/AST) 2:21.
40. Arthur Vichot (FRA/FDJ) 4:58.
41. Davide Malacarne (ITA/EUC) 4:58.
42. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA/OPQ) 4:58.
43. Guillaume Levarlet (FRA/SAU) 4:58.
44. Egoi Martinez (ESP/EUS) 4:58.
45. Stuart O'Grady (AUS/GEC) 4:58.
46. Andreï Kashechkin (KAZ/AST) 4:58.
47. Richie Porte (AUS/SKY) 4:58.
48. Pierrick Fedrigo (FRA/FDJ) 4:58.
49. Dominik Nerz (GER/LIQ) 4:58.
50. Kevin De Weert (BEL/OPQ) 4:58.
51. Simon Gerrans (AUS/GEC) 4:58.
52. Sandy Casar (FRA/FDJ) 4:58.
53. Cyril Gautier (FRA/EUC) 4:58.
54. Thomas Voeckler (FRA/EUC) 4:58.
55. Peter Sagan (SVK/LIQ) 4:58.
56. Simone Stortoni (ITA/LAM) 4:58.
57. Yury Trofimov (RUS/KAT) 4:58.
58. Michael Rogers (AUS/SKY) 4:58.
59. Sergio Paulinho (POR/SAX) 4:58.
60. Johnny Hoogerland (NED/VAC) 4:58.
61. Eduard Vorganov (RUS/KAT) 4:58.
62. Christophe Kern (FRA/EUC) 4:58.
63. Marco Marcato (ITA/VAC) 7:25.
64. Daniel Martin (EIR/GRM) 7:25.
65. Danilo Hondo (GER/LAM) 7:25.
66. Sébastien Minard (FRA/ALM) 7:25.
67. Maxime Bouet (FRA/ALM) 7:25.
68. Vladimir Karpets (RUS/MOV) 7:25.
69. Anders Lund (DEN/SAX) 7:25.
70. Yaroslav Popovych (UKR/RSH) 7:25.
71. Sylvester Szmyd (POL/LIQ) 7:25.
72. Michael Albasini (SWI/GEC) 9:07.
73. Federico Canuti (ITA/LIQ) 10:17.
74. George Hincapie (USA/BMC) 10:17.
75. Michael Schär (SWI/BMC) 10:17.
76. Bauke Mollema (NED/RAB) 10:17.
77. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/SKY) 10:17.
78. Kristjan Koren (SLO/LIQ) 10:17.
79. Jens Voigt (GER/RSH) 12:19.
80. Baden Cooke (AUS/GEC) 12:19.
81. Michael Morkov (DEN/SAX) 12:19.
82. Manuel Quinziato (ITA/BMC) 12:19.
83. Luca Paolini (ITA/KAT) 12:19.
84. Romain Zingle (BEL/COF) 12:19.
85. Koen de Kort (NED/ARG) 12:19.
86. Fabrice Jeandesboz (FRA/SAU) 12:19.
87. Tony Martin (GER/OPQ) 12:19.
88. David Millar (GBR/GRM) 12:19.
89. Lars Ytting Bak (DEN/LTB) 12:19.
90. Fabian Cancellara (SWI/RSH) 12:19.
91. Rob Ruijgh (NED/VAC) 12:19.
92. David Zabriskie (USA/GRM) 12:19.
93. Mickaël Cherel (FRA/ALM) 12:19.
94. Jean Christophe Peraud (FRA/ALM) 12:19.
95. Jeremy Roy (FRA/FDJ) 12:19.
96. Amaël Moinard (FRA/BMC) 12:19.
97. Christian Knees (GER/SKY) 12:19.
98. Sébastian Langeveld (NED/GEC) 12:19.
99. Steven Kruijswijk (NED/RAB) 12:19.
100. Rafael Valls (ESP/VAC) 13:57.
101. Vasil Kiryienka (BLR/MOV) 13:57.
102. Alessandro Vanotti (ITA/LIQ) 13:57.
103. Grega Bole (SLO/LAM) 16:30.
104. Marco Marzano (ITA/LAM) 16:30.
105. Pieter Weening (NED/GEC) 16:30.
106. Andriy Grivko (UKR/AST) 16:41.
107. Patrick Gretsch (GER/ARG) 16:41.
108. Marcel Sieberg (GER/LTB) 16:41.
109. Giovanni Bernaudeau (FRA/EUC) 16:41.
110. Jorge Azanza (ESP/EUS) 16:41.
111. Nicki Sorensen (DEN/SAX) 16:41.
112. Francis de Greef (BEL/LTB) 16:41.
113. Nick Nuyens (BEL/SAX) 16:41.
114. Ruben Perez Moreno (ESP/EUS) 16:41.
115. Daryl Impey (RSA/GEC) 16:41.
116. Robert Gesink (NED/RAB) 16:41.
117. Alessandro Petacchi (ITA/LAM) 16:41.
118. Pablo Urtasun (ESP/EUS) 16:41.
119. Nicolas Edet (FRA/COF) 16:41.
120. Adam Hansen (AUS/LTB) 16:41.
121. Jürgen Roelandts (BEL/LTB) 16:41.
122. Mathieu Sprick (FRA/ARG) 16:41.
123. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 16:41.
124. Stephen Cummings (GBR/BMC) 16:41.
125. Johan Van Summeren (BEL/GRM) 16:41.
126. Joan Horrach (ESP/KAT) 16:41.
127. Cedric Pineau (FRA/FDJ) 16:41.
128. Julien Fouchard (FRA/COF) 16:41.
129. Yukiya Arashiro (JPN/EUC) 16:41.
130. Cyril Lemoine (FRA/SAU) 16:41.
131. Matthew Goss (AUS/GEC) 16:41.
132. Bert Grabsch (GER/OPQ) 16:41.
133. Greg Henderson (NZL/LTB) 16:41.
134. Martin Velits (SVK/OPQ) 16:41.
135. Dries Devenyns (BEL/OPQ) 16:41.
136. Marcus Burghardt (GER/BMC) 16:41.
137. Philippe Gilbert (BEL/BMC) 16:41.
138. Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP/RAB) 16:41.
139. Yohann Gene (FRA/EUC) 16:41.
140. Brett Lancaster (AUS/GEC) 16:41.
141. Jérôme Pineau (FRA/OPQ) 16:41.
142. Kris Boeckmans (BEL/VAC) 16:41.
143. Brice Feillu (FRA/SAU) 16:41.
144. Jean-Marc Marino (FRA/SAU) 16:41.
145. Anthony Roux (FRA/FDJ) 19:31.
146. Daniel Oss (ITA/LIQ) 21:56.
147. Sébastien Hinault (FRA/ALM) 22:19.
148. Mark Cavendish (GBR/SKY) 22:19.
149. Bernhard Eisel (AUT/SKY) 22:19.
150. Matthew Lloyd (AUS/LAM) 22:19.
151. Jonathan Cantwell (AUS/SAX) 22:19.
152. Lieuwe Westra (NED/VAC) 22:19.
153. Luis Ángel Maté (ESP/COF) 22:19.
154. Roy Curvers (NED/ARG) 22:19.
155. Aliaksandr Kuschynski (BLR/KAT) 22:19.
156. Borut Bozic (SLO/AST) 22:19.
157. Albert Timmer (NED/ARG) 22:19.
158. Juan Jose Haedo (ARG/SAX) 22:19.
159. Yann Huguet (FRA/ARG) 22:19.
160. Karsten Kroon (NED/SAX) 22:19.
161. Yauheni Hutarovich (BLR/FDJ) 23:31.
162. Kenny van Hummel (NED/VAC) 23:31.
163. Maxim Iglinskiy (KAZ/AST) 23:31.
164. Yuriy Krivtsov (UKR/LAM) 23:31.
165. Tyler Farrar (USA/GRM) 23:31.
166. Julien Simon (FRA/SAU) 23:31.
167. Andre Greipel (GER/LTB) 23:31.
168. Bram Tankink (NED/RAB) 23:31.
169. Gustav Erik Larsson (SWE/VAC) 23:31.
170. Jan Ghyselinck (BEL/COF) 23:31.
171. Rubén Plaza (ESP/MOV) 23:31.
172. Tom Veelers (NED/ARG) 23:31.
173. Jimmy Engoulvent (FRA/SAU) 23:31.
174. Mark Renshaw (AUS/RAB) 23:31.
175. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/COF) 23:31.
176. Vincent Jerome (FRA/EUC) 23:31.
177. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA/FDJ) 23:31.
178. Vladimir Gusev (RUS/KAT) 23:31.

. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) Retired
. Gorka Verdugo (ESP/EUS) Retired
. Johannes Fröhlinger (GER/ARG) Withdrew