Vuillermoz wins 8th stage of Tour; Froome keeps lead

Froome inherited the lead, but did not wear the yellow jersey during Stage 7 as a mark of respect for Martin.

RENNES, France (Reuters) – After a treacherous week of racing on the Tour de France, Tejay van Garderen is still flying under the radar but the American is definitely in the mix.

“I’m very happy, I waited a week now for this win personally”. “We’ve been proactive in doing more work than normal in order to try and stay safe”. A rider for MTN-Qhubeka, Farrar won Stage 3 of the 2011 Tour de France.

Alexis Vuillermoz crosses the finish line to win the 181.5km 8th stage of the Tour de France, from Rennes to Mur-de-Bretagne.

“There wasn’t much between us”, said Froome. Froome, defending champion Vincenzo Nibali, two-time champion Alberto Contador and 2013 Tour runner-up Nairo Quintana all finished safely.

Vuillermoz, who took 11th place overall in the Giro d’Italia in 2014 in his second year as a professional, is supposed to ride in support of team mates Jean-Christophe Peraud and Romain Bardet, second and sixth overall in last year’s Tour.

Looking to keep Froome safe from the risk of crashes, Team Sky rode hard from the front early on. “Quintana’s lost a lot of time already, that’s a big blow for him but I do expect him to be up there in the mountains”.

The 38-year-old Paolini, who tested positive on the fourth stage earlier this week, also said he did not use the banned stimulant before the Tour.

Following the publication of Cycling Independent Reform Commission’s report into the sport’s doping culture, the UCI has introduced tougher anti-doping measures which include the possibility of waking up athletes in the middle of the night for testing.

The 30-year-old Briton timed his move to perfection in Fougeres to beat German ace sprinter Andre Greipel by a bike’s length.

“It doesn’t help him mentally, but his head is not one of the normal ones like the rest of us have”, Martinelli said. “I saw the Ag2r guy go but I just couldn’t get out”.

Cavendish is Martin’s teammate on the Etixx-Quick Step team, and can empathize with the German after separating his right shoulder in a crash on the first stage of last year’s Tour.

Kudus fell approaching the end, along with French riders Nicolas Edet and Damien Gaudin, but all got back up and continued.

Within two minutes of the stage start, five riders broke away.

Besides journalists wanting to grab a word with the stage victor immediately afterwards and photographers wanting to grab a picture, there is a long list of post-race protocols to go through – TV interviews, anti-doping control, the podium presentation for the stage and, in Greipel’s case, the green jersey, plus the official press conference.

“Everyone started to relax just a little bit more.

The team time trial is a 28-km effort that finishes up the Cote de Cadoudal, a steep 1.7-km ascent where the teams will need to stay as compact as possible as the time will be taken on the fifth rider to cross the line. He’s spent most of his career as a sprinter.

“I feel really good at the moment, but whether I am better or worse that when I won it, we’ll see when we get to the mountains”.