Pinot wins stage eight of Tour
France’s Thibaut Pinot won stage eight of the Tour de France in Porrentruy as Briton Bradley Wiggins retained the race leader’s yellow jersey and Ireland's Nicolas Roche slipped back a place to ninth.
The 157.5-kilometre route from Belfort saw the peloton make a brief sojourn to the finish in Switzerland and Pinot (FDJ-Bigmat) won by 26 seconds from Cadel Evans (BMC Racing), with Tony Gallopin (RadioShack-Nissan) third and Wiggins (Team Sky) fourth.
Australian Evans attempted to gain vital seconds in the closing moments of the stage, but Wiggins had enough strength to follow every revolution and maintain his 10secs lead.
Wiggins became the fifth Briton to don the maillot jaune on stage seven, won by Team Sky colleague Chris Froome, and will enter tomorrow’s 41.5km time-trial to Besancon seeking to gain further time in his bid for victory in Paris on July 22.
Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) stayed third, 16secs adrift, after placing fifth on the stage.
Wearing yellow was not unfamiliar to Wiggins – the triple Olympic champion won the yellow jersey at the Paris-Nice, Tour de Romandie and Criterium du Dauphine stage races this season – but it was his first time as leader of cycling’s most prestigious race.
The 32-year-old Londoner was the fifth Briton to wear the fabled maillot jaune at the Tour and first since David Millar in 2000, emulating the Scot’s achievement of leading all three Grand Tours.
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