Bradley Wiggins comes under pressure from his rivals as the race descends into Switzerland
Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-BigMat), the youngest rider in the 2012 Tour de France, won the eighth stage of the race between Belfort and Porrentruy, Switzerland, after he escaped the rest of a large breakaway group on the final climb of the day. The 22-year-old Frenchman was just 12 seconds clear of Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana) over the top of the steep, 1st category Col de la Croix, and only 1’39” ahead of a highly select group of overall contenders, as he began the 16km descent to the line.
Kessiakoff was caught by the group, but Pinot managed to hold them off, to take his biggest ever victory, 26 seconds ahead of defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing), who won the sprint for second ahead of Tony Gallopin (RadioShack-Nissan).
“I lived through the longest 10km of my life,” said Pinot after his victory. “When I saw the peloton had got to within 50 seconds with 10km to go, I began to panic.
“I owe much of this win to [FDJ-BigMat teammate] Jérémy Roy,” he explained. “When he was ahead in the stage, I did not have to ride, and then when I bridged the gap to him he helped me throughout the game that was being played out before the final climb. He gave everything. After the last hill, I couldn’t feel my legs but I was carried by the cheers of the fans, and it only happens like this on the Tour de France.
“Initially, I was meant to do the Vuelta a España,” he added, “but I insisted on doing the Tour and I made sure Marc Madiot knew what I wanted. Now I hope he’s convinced that I was right…
“Yesterday, I didn’t dare disturb the GC leaders who were ahead of me, I kept in my place,” he concluded. “But if I wanted a stage victory, it was now or never. We can see that every day, our team is striving to do something and there is a real group of friends here and I’m pleased to have earned a reward such as this.”
Pinot had been part of a 24-man escaped that had finally fought its way clear of the peloton in the middle of the most aggressive stage of the race so far. As the race crossed the medium mountains of the Jura there were several attempted breakaways in the first half of the 157.5km stage, but it was not until the halfway point that the escape’s composition was finally settled.
Roy began to split the group, as he and Kessiakoff got away over the top of the Côte de Saulcy with just over 60km to go, and the Swedish Astana rider attacked alone over the top. He was more than a minute clear with 50km to go – which rose to 1’35” over the penultimate climb to the Côte de la Caquerelle – but Pinot pulled a small group of riders clear as the chasers arrived on the climb.
Steadily Pinot dropped the rest of his chasing companions until only Gallopin remained, and he too was distanced as the Col de la Croix began. The Frenchman steadily closed down Kessiakoff on the steep gradients, and finally rode past him with just over half a kilometre still to climb.
Team Sky had controlled the peloton for most of the day, but handed over to Liquigas-Cannondale in the final 50km. Lotto-Belisol moved forward on the final climb however, and Jelle Vanendert reduced the front group to just ten riders as it arrived at the summit.
The chasing group was just Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol), Evans, Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), race leader Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome (both Team Sky), Denis Menchov (Katusha), and Haimar Zubeldia, Chris Horner and Fränk Schleck (all RadioShack-Nissan) as it began the descent. It managed to close down Gallopin and Kessiakoff, but Pinot held it off.
Van Den Broeck and Evans tried to escape in the final kilometres, but were closed down before they could get far; Wiggins held on to his Maillot Jaune by the same ten second margin over Evans, and 16 seconds over Nibali.
“Another day ticked off, so really happy,” said Wiggins to the TV cameras afterwards. “The team were fantastic today in marshalling the race. It was a tough one. It certainly was, and we saw on the last climb there wasn’t many guys left. It is another one of the tough days away now, and time trial tomorrow.”
Holding on to that Maillot Jaune meant that Wiggins would start the time trial last, and would have the potentially crucial advantage of knowing about the performance of his rivals.
“It is not a straightforward time trial, it is quite technical in places,” he said. “But it’s going to be a good one.”
A break gets going early on the hills of the Jura but everybody wants to be in it
With the Tour de France having arrived in the mountains, it was to pass another day in the smaller climbs of the Jura region as it crossed over the border to Switzerland. This was to be no easy stage however, as it crossed one 4th, one 3rd, four 2nd, and the 1st category Col de la Croix on the way to the finish. While the Col de la Croix was just 3.7km long, it averaged 9.2%, with slopes of up to 17% towards the top, and its summit was to come just 16km from the finish.
Almost immediately a ten-man break got away, which included Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan), Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing) and Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step). Team Sky seemed happy with the group’s composition, and Chavanel – the best placed in it – seemed poised for a bid to take the yellow jersey that he was so close to in the first week, but Astana was not happy to have missed out and chased for several kilometres.
With the group’s lead down to a few seconds, Voigt went alone and took the point over the top of the Côte de Bondeval after 20km, while behind him riders splintered off the front of the peloton in an attempt to bridge. The pace at the front of the race, as several riders battled to get into the breakaway group, saw a number of sprinters and weaker climbers forced out the back already.
Several riders eventually made it across to Voigt on the descent, and the climb to Côte de Maison-Rouge that followed. The group was far too big to be allowed to stay clear however, and Team Sky was beginning to chase it down. The gap to the peloton was less than 20 seconds after 50km, and Roy attacked across it and went straight over the top.
Near the back of the peloton there was yet another crash, involving Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) as a number of riders’ bikes became entangled near the back of the peloton. Most riders were quickly up and chasing the peloton, but Sánchez was down for some time, and when he finally sat up he was holding his left shoulder. The Olympic champion was tended by the race doctor for some time, before abandoning the Tour by ambulance.
Finally the break is released as Jérémy Roy goes on the offensive
Roy, meanwhile, was more than a minute clear of the Sky-led peloton as the race entered Switzerland with 92.5km to go. As the Côte de Saignelégier began Voigt sat up but, as Wiggins stopped for a “natural break”, Team Sky’s pace dropped, and the gap to the leaders began to go up again. Over the top of the climb Roy was just a few seconds ahead of Kessiakoff – who joined him shortly afterwards, with Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM) leading the 22-strong chase group 40 seconds later.
The Sky-led peloton had well and truly sat up by now, and Christian Knees cruised over the line 2’28” behind Roy.
Behind the two leaders, the group was made up of: Chris Anker Sørensen (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank), Gallopin, Giampaolo Caruso (Katusha), Pinot, Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Hoogerland and Rafa Valls (both Vacansoleil-DCM), Blel Kadri, Mickaël Cherel and Jean-Christophe Péraud (all AG2R La Mondiale), Steven Kruijswijk, Laurens Ten Dam and Bauke Mollema (all Rabobank), Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEdge), Marco Marzano (Lampre-ISD), Amaël Moinard (BMC Racing), Fabrice Jeandesboz (Saur-Sojasun), Vasil Kiryienka (Movistar), David Moncoutié (Cofidis), Dominik Nerz (Liquigas-Cannondale), Kevin De Weert (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) and Christophe Kern (Europcar).
Gallopin was the best placed in the group, just 3’13” behind Wiggins in 19th place, but the Frenchman was not deemed to be a problem.
The gap was more than a minute as they passed through the feedzone, in Le Bémont with 75km to go, with the peloton drifting further back. Shortly afterwards Kruijswijk and De Weert set out to try and bridge that gap as they descended towards the foot of the Côte de Saulcy, and joined them with a little over a kilometre still to climb.
Kessiakoff attacked for the points over the top with 60.5km to go and kept going; on the false flat that followed the group behind him began to reform, but the Swedish rider wasn’t waiting. At the intermediate sprint, in Les Genevez with 50.5km to go, Kessiakoff was 1’05” ahead of the 15 remaining chasers – led over the line by Pinot – and the peloton was 2’45” back. Team Sky sat up, and Liquigas-Cannondale came forward, even though the it still had Nerz up the road.
As Kessiakoff began the climb to the Côte de la Caquerelle he was 1’35” ahead and Pinot set off in pursuit. With the FDJ-BigMat rider were Gallopin, Moncoutié, Kern and Kiserlovski, but one by one they dropped off his wheel until only Gallopin remained. The two Frenchmen were just 59 seconds behind the lone Swede as he crossed the top of the climb with 27km to go. Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) led the peloton over 3’26” behind.
Into the final 20km, and the climb to the Col de la Croix, Pinot left Gallopin behind and began to close in on Kessiakoff. In the peloton behind them Vanendert muscled his way to the front and the gap began to plummet as the peloton shattered on the steep gradients.
Pinot is clear but Wiggins is coming under attack
With just over half a kilometre to climb Pinot caught up with Kessiakoff, and rode by as the Astana rider appeared rooted to the tarmac. The 22-year-old was still two minutes ahead of the Lotto-Belisol led peloton, which was busy sweeping up the rest of his former breakaway companions.
Pinot was twelve seconds clear over the top of the climb, with 16km to go, as Van Den Broeck pulled Evans, Nibali, Wiggins, Froome, Menchov, Zubeldia, Horner and Schleck clear. They were 1’39” behind Pinot over the top as they began the descent to the finish, quickly catching Gallopin to make four RadioShack-Nissan riders in the group of ten.
Nibali and Evans tried to escape Wiggins on the descent, but the British rider calmly brought them back. Kessiakoff almost came down on a corner as he came in too fast, but managed to hang on and was gradually clawing back the seconds to the leading Frenchman.
Pinot was hanging tough though, as Madiot yelled enthusiastically at him from the team car. With five kilometres to go he was 20 seconds ahead of Kessiakoff, but the Wiggins group was just a minute behind.
As Pinot passed under the four kilometres to go banner the Wiggins group caught Kessiakoff 42 seconds behind him. The Frenchman was still holding on though, and conceded just three seconds in the next kilometre, as Van Den Broeck broke clear of the group.
Pinot still had 37 seconds as he entered the final two kilometres, as Madiot was going crazy in the car beside him once more. Behind him Evans attacked across the gap to Van Den Broeck and the two got together and began to distance the Wiggins-led chase. The lone Frenchman up front was grinning as widely as his team manager up front though, and punched the air with both fists as he hit the line to take his biggest ever victory.
Evans and Van Den Broeck had been caught by the group behind him, as RadioShack-Nissan tried to set up Gallopin for the line, but the Australian sprinted to his second straight second place of the race.