Tour de France: Costa takes 8th stage but Hushovd keeps Yellow Jersey
SUPER-BESSE, France: Rui Costa won the 189-km long eighth stage of the Tour de France 2011 cycle race here Saturday but Thor Hushovd of Norway continued to keep hold of the Yellow Jersey.
Rui Alberto Costa. Courtesy: Getty Images
Cadel Evans of Australia and Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan tried their best to snatch the Yellow Jersey from the Norwegian but Hushovd proved too good for the duo and kept his dominance on the Tour.
It was first victory for Rui Costa in this year’s Tour de France as he outpaced Philippe Gilbert of Belgium by 12 seconds to clinch the eighth stage.
Rui Alberto Costa. Courtesy: AP PHOTO
Thor Hushovd still has one second lead over Cadel Evans of Australia, who led a bunch of cyclists including Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck in third place just 15 seconds off the pace.
After eight stages of the Tour de France cycle race 2011, Thor Hushovd leads the lot by one second, Aussie Cadel Evans is at the second place while Frank Schleck of Luxembourg is just four seconds behind at third.
Rui Alberto Costa. Courtesy: AP PHOTO
Hushovd told reporters, “I pushed my limits. I knew this stage would be hard with a bit of mountains and a tough finale. Deep inside, anyway, I was hoping I could keep it”.
Robert Gesink, who was of the favorites for a podium finish in Paris, lost another over a minute following a drop in the penultimate ascent of the day. His sports director Adri van Houwelingen told reporters, “A minute is an important loss, but it’s not just a minute. The problem is that Robert’s been in pain and has been complaining about it since he crashed three days ago.”
Rui Alberto Costa. Courtesy: Reuters
Gesink stated, “I went to the limit but the limit was not high enough”.
The eighth stage winner Costa said, “It’s was a tough day but I knew I had what it takes to go all the way. I held off (the peloton), I got a bit lucky”.
Cadel Evans has now entered into a three-way battle with Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck looking to challenge him as well as Hushovd. The Aussie rider said, “There is still a long way to Paris”.
Contador is catching up fast in his favorite hilly areas stages as he has trimmed down the difference between him and Hushovd down to 1:42 and is now placed at 20th in the overall standings. He told reporters, “I had excellent feelings for the first time. We were all close. What matters is to have good legs. I think (the battle) will start in the Pyrenees (next week) but there’s tomorrow first.”
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