Lance leads the yellow jersey of Nocentini in stage eight
Luis León Sánchez wins Stage Eight in Saint-Girons
On a hot, sunny day at the Tour De France, Stage 8 crossed the Pyrénées Mountains from Andorra to Saint-Girons, where rising star Luis Leon Sanchez won the stage. Sanchez was away all day in a breakaway moved up to 11th overall. Post stage in Saint-Girons, Sanchez said “when I first saw this stage, I knew it was a good one for me. It was a great win for me today, a really important day.” Sanchez’s former teammate & good friend Alberto Contador was also happy with his result today. The 2007 Tour winner told French TV post stage “I’m feeling ‘muy bien’…I’ve recovered well from yesterday and our team is strong. I have good feelings at this Tour.” And why not? Contador is sitting pretty in 2nd place and his SRAM RED equipped Astana team is dominating the 2009 Tour De France
Sunday’s third stage in the Pyrénées, the 160.5km Stage 9 from Saint-Gaudens to Tarbes climbs the Cat.1 Col d’Aspin and the beyond category Col du Tourmalet, but the massive ascent of the Tourmalet is still 70km from the finish in Tarbes. Sunday should be another sunny day in the Hautes-Pyrénées region, with clear skies and temps in the mid-eighties on the flats and the mid-sixties atop the mountain climbs.
SRAM RED, the world’s lightest, most efficient, and most comfortable road group has won three of the Tour’s seven stages, and has currently has five riders in the top ten overall. SRAM has four SRAM-equipped for team in the 2009 Tour including Agritubel, Astana, Team Saxo Bank, and Milram.
Stage 8: Andorre-la-Vella – Saint-Girons / 176.5km
1. Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne / 4h31’50″
7. Peter Velits (Svk) Team Milram @ 1’54″ (SRAM RED)
2009 Tour de France / General Classification After Stage 8
1. Rinaldo Nocentini / Ag2r-La Mondiale 30h18’16″
2. Alberto Contador / Astana – SRAM RED @ :06″
3. Lance Armstrong / Astana – SRAM RED @ :08″
4. Levi Leipheimer / Astana – SRAM RED @ :39″
6 Andréas Kloden / Astana – SRAM RED @ :54″
9. Andy Schleck / Saxo Bank – SRAM RED @ 1’49″