De la Fuente keeps KOM Jersey

Saunier Duval-Scott's David de la Fuente managed to keep his polka-dot jersey of the best climber in Saturday's rainy stage eight. De la Fuente was the first rider to the top of the initial climb of the day and finished second on the second one.

Both of those climbs came before the breakaway of the day including Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Christophe Riblon (Ag2r), Jérôme Pineau (Bouygues Telecom), and Laurent Lefèvre (Bouygues Telecom) which collected all the remaining mountains points for the day.

"I've met my goal of keeping the mountains jersey today," said de la Fuente. "The early race was tough, with so many attacks and all. I took off from behind in the first climb and rode past other riders to be the first to crown it.

"The same thing happened in the second climb, but Lefèvre had already broken clear. Tomorrow's different; there'll be two main mountain passes and the race will be long. It'll be an important day for the KOM classification, with two category-one climbs plus four other ascents," he said. "Of course, my goal will be being part of the breakaways, for there'll surely be one. My GC time isn't very good, and this could help me for a place ahead, but then everyone'll try to be in the breakaway."

De la Fuente had a much better day than his team-mate Riccardo Riccò, who went down with 50 kilometres to go. He hurt his right knee and hip, but he managed to regain the peloton with the help of his team-mates. According to his team, Riccò will be able to go on riding.