Tour de France: Michael Rasmussen wins stage 8

July 15, 2007 Michael Rasmussen has won stage 8 of the 2007 Tour de France and has captured the overall lead. He blew away David Arroyo of Spain and Stéphane Goubert on the final climb. Iban Mayo took second. In the end, Arroyo and Goubert were overtaken by the chase group.

Rasmussen, the Danish mountain specialist who has won the King of the Mountain's polka dot jersey the last two years, maximized the number of points he could collect in today's mountain stage.

Michael Rogers of Australia had looked to be in position to take the yellow jersey, when he hit a barrier and hurt his wrist in the crash. Stuart O'Grady also crashed and is out, leaving only two Australians in the Tour.

This, the third-shortest road stage in this year's Tour, was very tough. The climbing started from the outset, with two small climbs in the first 25 km. At 75 km out, the first big test was Cormet de Roselend (a 19 km climb at 6%). This was followed by the Montée d'Hauteville - the start of the Col du Petit Saint-Bernard - and the climb up to Tignes (18 km at 5.5%) for a very difficult finish at a height of 2068 m.

Mark Cavendish of United Kingdom withdrew 35 km into today's stage. The sprinter had already planned to pull out, but not this soon.

Stage 8 results
 * 1) Michael Rasmussen (Den / RAB ) 4 hrs 49 mins 40"
 * 2) Iban Mayo (Spa / SDV ) +2:47"
 * 3) Alejandro Valverde (Spa / CDE) +3:12"
 * 4) Christophe Moreau (Fra / AG2R ) +3:13"
 * 5) Fraenk Schleck (Lux / CSC ) s.t.
 * 6) Cadel Evans (Aus / PDL ) s.t.
 * 7) Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz / AST) s.t.
 * 8) Alberto Contador (Spa / DSC ) +3:31"
 * 9) Denis Menchov (Rus / RAB) +3:35"
 * 10) Carlos Sastre (Spa / CSC ) s.t.

Overall classification
 * 1) Michael Rasmussen (Den / RAB) 39:37:42"
 * 2) Linus Gerdemann (Ger / TMO ) +43"
 * 3) Iban Mayo (Spa / SDV) +2:39"
 * 4) Alejandro Valverde (Spa / CDE) +2:51"
 * 5) Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz / AST) +2:52"
 * 6) Cadel Evans (Aus / PDL) +2:53"
 * 7) Christophe Moreau (Fra / AG2R ) +3:06"
 * 8) Alberto Contador (Spa / DSC) +3:10"
 * 9) Fraenk Schleck (Lux / CSC) +3:14"
 * 10) Denis Menchov (Rus / RAB) +3:19"