Tour de France: Froome attacks descent to win stage to Luchon

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Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme designed the first two of this year's Pyrenean stages with the aim of denying Chris Froome the opportunity of taking a grip on the race in the range as he did when he claimed the title in 2013 and 2015. However, Team Sky's leader wasn't to be denied as he produced one of the most astonishing and daring performances of his career on Saturday, enabling him to claim a brilliant solo victory in Bagnères de Luchon and with it the race leader’s yellow jersey.

Froome swept into Luchon 13 seconds clear of the other favourites, who were led in by Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep), just ahead of Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha). Thanks to the 10-second bonus he gained for winning the stage, Froome moved into yellow, 16 seconds ahead of compatriot Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange), with Rodríguez third overall. Froome's principal rival, Nairo Quintana is now sixth at 23 seconds.

This scenario had seemed extremely unlikely halfway up the Peyresourde. After setting the pace on the front of the group of favourites for most of the way over stage's four major climbs, mopping up all of the breakaway riders as they did so, it appeared that Sky would be content to lead the GC contenders down into Luchon and save their powder for the next stage to Arcalis. Yet, three kilometres from the top of the Peyresourde, the last of those climbs, Sky's initiated a series of attacks that split the group, with Tinkoff's Alberto Contador the main casualty.

Cresting the Peyresourde, Froome accelerated. He and teammate Wout Poels had done the same on the previous climb of Val Louron, apparently to deny Tinkoff's Rafal Majka maximum points for the King of the Mountains jersey. On this occasion, though, Froome continued his effort.

Catching his rivals by surprise, he quickly opened up a gap of a few seconds as he began the plunge into Luchon. What came next was even more startling as Froome tucked down onto his toptube and spun his 54 chainring with all he had, opening up an even bigger gap in the process. It didn't look pretty or comfortable, but it was very effective.

As Quintana's teammate Alejandro Valverde led the chase behind the defending Tour champion, Froome's advantage reached 25 seconds. Then BMC duo Richie Porte and Tejay van Garderen gave a bit more weight to the chase, which helped to halve the gap by the finish. To complete another good day for British riders, Adam Yates retained the white jersey and Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) finished in the gruppetto to hold the green.

More on this story:

• Tour de France: Froome attacks descent to win in Luchon
• Tour de France: Stage 8 Finish line quotes
• Tour de France stage 8 video highlights
• Froome happy to be in yellow after daring downhill attack

Video Highlights

How it unfolded

There was blistering start to the day, as the peloton covered 51km in the first hour, chasing down every breakaway attempt in the process. Approaching the intermediate sprint (67km), a group of around 13 riders gained half a minute on the peloton. Among them was Orica-BikeExchange's Michael Matthews, who breezed clear to take maximum points.

That group of 13 split after the sprint. On the early slopes of the Tourmalet, the only one of that baker's dozen to remain at the front was Arnold Jeannesson (Cofidis), who was soon joined by two big-hitters in the shape of Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Tinkoff's Majka.

Jeannesson couldn't stay with the pace of his new companions, who forged on as Sky took over pace-setting duties in the peloton behind. While Jeannesson dropped back, Etixx-QuickStep's Tony Martin went past him and pressed on to join the two leaders two-thirds of the way up the Tourmalet.

As Martin advanced, teammate Julian Alaphilippe was one of the riders shaken out of the peloton climbing the Tourmalet. Yellow jersey Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) also slipped out of the group, his loss of time soon guaranteeing there would be a new race leader in Luchon.

On the final steep ramps of the Tourmalet, Pinot accelerated to ensure he was first over the pass. It earned him €5,000 for the Souvenir Jacques Goddet prize awarded in memory of the former Tour director and useful points in the mountains competition. The Sky-led peloton was 2-22 behind.

As Martin sat in behind Majka and Pinot on the second-category Hourquette d'Ancizan, the German's role clearly to assist Etixx leader Dan Martin further into the stage, Sky’s pace was beginning to tell in the peloton. Movistar's Dan Moreno and Winner Anacona couldn't stay with it, nor could IAM's leader Matthias Frank.

Pinot led Majka and Martin over the Hourquette d'Ancizan, with Sky's Sergio Henao heading the group of GC contenders 90 seconds later. When the leading trio started up the first-cat Val Louron, their advantage had dropped to a minute as Movistar sent Nelson Oliveira to the front to push up the pace. Within minutes, Oliveira had pulled the favourites across to the three leaders, with Majka the last of them to yield.

Oliveira had done his stint, and Sky's Mikel Nieve moved to the front, with around 35 riders in the group following the Spaniard. Soon after news had come through that Katusha's Michael Mørkøv had become the first rider to abandon the race, the lead group topped Val Louron, where Majka made a late surge to take maximum KoM points only to see Poels and Froome surge to deny him, although the Pole would still end the day in the polka-dot jersey.

Descending Val Louron, Wilco Kelderman's tube rolled off on a right-hand hairpin, leaving him sitting in the road as LottoNL-Jumbo teammate George Bennett offered him his wheel and a mechanic appeared with a new bike. Both rejoined the lead group for the Peyresourde, where Nieve stuck to his task and there was absolutely no hint of the thrills about to come.

Then, three kilometres from the top, Henao attacked. Movistar's Quintana and Valverde were quick to respond, and Froome was right with them. The group reformed, then Valverde pressed hard, only to see Froome surge by with Quintana on his wheel. Then Dan Martin accelerated, his move being countered by Henao.

This flurry split the group, with Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin) and Contador the most notable absentees. It settled for a few moments, then AG2R's Romain Bardet accelerated. Quintana chased the Frenchman down and made his first dig in this series of attacks, drawing a response from Henao and Froome. That seemed likely to be the end of the action, until Froome made the most unlikely of attacks, in the process shredding any argument that descending is his weak point. 

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