Cavendish Outsprints the Best to Win Stage Eight of the 2008 Tour de France

Team Columbia took first and second in the only Tour stage to end in a group sprint, as 23-year-old Mark Cavendish showed that he is the fastest sprinter in the Tour over the last 200 meters. The best sprinters in professional cycling contested the last kilometer, and Mark Cavendish proved the fastest.

Kim Kirchen kept the yellow jersey and Team Columbia stayed second in Tour team rankings.

A Rest Stage, a Sprint Stage?

Stage Eight was almost a rest stage after the last few, and before Sunday's assault on the Pyrenees proper.

At 172.5 km, the stage was a bit shorter, and with only two Category Four and two Category Three climbs, as well as a long, long descent for the second half, riders could have used this stage to rest their legs, after the brutal pace set by the peloton so far. The first half of the stage is quite demanding—constant climbing and descent—but the last half was fairly easy.

This stage was another "sprinters'" stage—so, as with the others, one could expect not to see a group sprint at the end. Nothing has gone quite according to prediction this year, why start now? The last five kilometers rose just six meters, with the final kilometer being almost perfectly straight and flat—if there were to be a group sprint, this would be the best and safest opportunity of the Tour so far.

One unpleasant note: Liquigas rider Manuel Beltran tested positive for EPO and was dropped from the Tour. Still, this can be seen as a positive thing—perhaps some riders will always be foolish and dishonorable enough to cheat, but if they are all caught, this is the best outcome in a bad situation.

"If you fight a war there will be casualties, and we have declared war on doping—to me this shows that the system is working," Garmin Chipotle Team Manager Matthew White, told reporters.

The Tour is down to 170 riders now. Mauro Facci (Quickstep), John Gadret (Ag2R-La Mondiale), Christophe Moreau (Agritubel) and Lilian Jegou (Francaise des Jeux) had to retire. Magnus Backstedt (Garmin Chipotle) was too far behind the field in time, and was dropped.

Overall leader Kim Kirchen (R) in the yellow rides with the best climber-polka dot jersey Spanish David de la Fuente during Stage Eight of the 2008 Tour de France. (Patrick Hertzog/AFP/Getty Images)

Bad Weather, Fast Racing

The race started in rain, and it started with attacks, none of which lasted very long.

The rain was light at the starting line, and the temperature was a chilly 61 degrees. The middle of the route was a bit drier, although rain was falling very heavily on the later parts of the course.

Again the peloton set a very high pace right off the line. No attackers could stay away from the pack through the first 40 kilometers.

After the second climb, the Cat Three Côte de Macaroum, Laurent Lefevere of Bouygues, who had led the pack over the climb, pressed his advantage and attacked, eventually opening a five-minute gap. The peloton, traveling at the ridiculously high speed of 46.5 kph, seemed content to let Lefevere burn himself out on a solo attack.

Three more riders crossed gap—Euskatel-Euskadi rider Amets Txurruka, Jerome Pineau of Bouyges, and Christophe Riblon of AG2R—and caught up with Lefevere—or rather, Lefevere allowed the three chasers, including on of his teammates—to catch him up.

Columbia led the peloton, driving the pace, as they did yesterday. The strategy didn't work for them on Stage Seven, when they wore out and other teams took over at the finish line.

Heavy rains overnight washed a lot of gravel onto the road, and many riders suffered punctures.

Chasing the Attack

The lead four—Lefevere, Txurruka, Pineau, and Riblon—maintained about a five-minute gap over the peloton. Riblon had a puncture, but got a new wheel and lost no time. The peloton, still traveling very quickly, waited and watched—since none of the leaders were a threat to the General Classification, the leading teams were not concerned.

The weather worsened as the day progressed, yet the pace and the gap stayed steady.

With 55 km to go, three teams—Credit Agricole, Liquigas, and Rabobank—decided it was time to take over. These teams, all with powerful sprinters, moved to the head of the peloton and began pushing the pace even higher, determined to reel in the break and be well-positioned for the final sprint.

Thor Hushovd for Credit Agricole, Oscar Freire for Rabobank, and Filippo Pozzato and Francesco Chicchi fro Liquigas, are all world-class sprinters, and all knew this would be their last chance in the Tour to win a stage.

Check here for
complete coverage of the
2008 Tour de France

With 50 km to go, several riders crashed, including Jens Voigt, Riccarrdo Ricco, and Columbia sprinter Gerald Ciolek. All were able to continue. Ricco, with help from his teammates, made a great effort to get back to the head of the peloton.

At 25 k, the course climbed two small hills—not big enough to be classified, but enough to launch attacks.

The gap, which had been 30 seconds, rose to 45 seconds by the base of the hills, as the big sprinting teams tried to conserve a bit of energy.

On the second climb, with 15 km to go, Liquigas picked up the pace, lining up six riders at the head of the peloton, stretching out the peloton and dropping the weaker riders. But Liquigas couldn't keep the pace. Simultaneously Txurruka attacked, dropping Lefevere and Riblon. It began to seem that the leaders had a slim chance.

Mark Cavendish (C) sprints on the finish line in Stage Eight of the 2008 Tour de France. (Pascal Pavani/AFP/Getty Images)

Finally, a Sprint!

With 8 km to go, Quickstep and Columbia moved back to the head of the peloton, with Mark Renshaw, the leadout man for Thor Hushovd. The peloton accelerated yet again, knowing it had to catch the breakaway for the sprinters to have a chance. The peloton caught the break at 3.5 km. Columbia bunched riders around Mark Cavendish and took the lead. At one km the course curved sharply right, a very dangerous curve in the hard rain, Everyone had to slow, but no one crashed.

Quickstep took the lead at the turn, pulling Steegman, as Columbia seemed to drop off a bit. Ciolek and Cavendish for Columbia were fourth and fifth; Robert Hunter from Barloworld seemed well-placed to take second.

Suddenly Cavendish broke to the right and accelerated, coming from several bike lengths back to overtake the speeding Steegman; even more unbelievably, Ciolek stayed almost on Cavendish's wheel and also passed Steegmann. Steegman faded once Ciolek passed him, eventually finishing seventh.

No one could catch the Columbia riders. Cavendish took the win, with Ciolek right behind him. Agritubel sprinter Jimmy Casper took third.

"You see how well my team worked, we worked hard all day. We caught them and finished of 1-2. You can't do better than that, Cavendish told reporters. "It was hard; there was a Cat Three climb and I ended up off the back. It took my team to bring me back into it."