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Tour de Suisse 2018: Stage 8

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Stage 8 of the Tour de Suisse sees the peloton tackle six laps of a 21.5km circuit in Bellinzona. With no categorised climbs on the menu, this promises to be an opportunity for the fast men but, Switzerland being Switzerland, there are still over 1,000 metres of climbing crammed into the 123km of racing. 

The roll-out is due at 2.15pm local time. Richie Porte (BMC) carries the yellow jersey into the stage and will expect to maintain his lead ahead of tomorrow's concluding time trial. The GC picture is as follows ahead of stage 8:

The peloton has rolled away from the start and is negotiating the 5km neutralised zone.

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Lotto Soudal, Bora-Hansgrohe and Quick-Step are all taking a controlling interest at the head of the peloton, with Andre Greipel, Peter Sagan and Fernando Gaviria, respectively, in mind.

Nairo Quintana demonstrated his pre-Tour de France form with his solo stage victory yesterday, but questions still linger over the hierarchy at Movistar in July, given that he will line out alongside Alejandro Valverde and Mikel Landa. "The race itself will decide leadership,” Quintana told Cyclingnews. Read more here.

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It's a busy weekend of racing around Europe and beyond. At the Tour of Slovenia, Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) has claimed stage victory to move into the overall lead with the final time trial to come on Sunday. 

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At the OVO Energy Women's Tour, meanwhile, Amalie Dideriksen (Boels-Dolmans) has claimed victory on stage 4.

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Richie Porte is tucked comfortably amid a phalanx of his BMC teammates towards the head of the peloton. Thus far, this has been an utterly uneventful stage for the overall leader, and he will hope for more of the same in the final phase of the day.

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Nathan Haas (Katusha-Alpecin) performed strongly on stage 6, placing second behind Soren Kragh Andersen. After a spring beset by health problems, the Australian is hoping to ride his way into Katusha's Tour de France selection. “I’m not confirmed to go yet," Haas said. "I really hope that I can make the team. It would be an honour to make the Tour team at Katusha this year. It’s such a strong group, with real leaders like Kittel and Zakarin. I’m just trying to do my best to get there.” Read more here.

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The 23-year-old Ourselin has been among the most aggressive riders on this Tour de Suisse, and indeed his Direct Energie team have adopted an offensive approach to this race. Direct Energie were the only one of the Tour wildcards to miss out on an invitation to the Dauphine, and their riders have been keen to make their case for Tour selection on Swiss roads this week.

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Bora, QuickStep and Lotto Soudal all have riders at the head of the peloton, which is hurtling along at 65kph.

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Daniel Oss sets a blistering pace on the front before Marcus Burghardt takes over...

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Quick-Step lead out the sprint for Gaviria, who goes from distance.

Gaviria leads but Demare is moving up...

Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) wins stage 8 of the Tour de Suisse.

Demare showed an impressive turn of speed to overtake Gaviria. Alexander Kristoff (UAE-Team Emirates) took third ahead of a fast-closing Peter Sagan. Jasper Stuyven was 5th ahead of John Degenkolb.

Richie Porte (BMC) finished safely in the peloton to retain his overall lead, 17 seconds ahead of Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and 52 up on Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb).

Result:

General Classification after stage 8:

General Classification after stage 8:

Thanks for joining our live coverage this afternoon. We'll be back with more from Sunday's concluding time trial in Bellinzona. In the meantime, you can find a full report, results and pictures from today's stage here.

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