Tdf: Rui Costa holds it together for victory as Thor Hushovd stays in yellow

Rui Alberto Faria da Costa put in a massive effort to hold off a looming peloton, to win the first mountain stage.

Costa was the remaining rider from a nine man breakaway, which formed after 9km of racing, and had room to celebrate, despite the main bunch closing in. With 5km left there were only four riders left in the bunch, including Tejay Van Garderen, Cyril Gautier and Christophe Riblon.



As the peloton began to close in on the quartet, they began to attack each other and each one was caught. It was only a matter of time before one of the four ran out of steam and it was Gautier who cracked first. While the Frenchman began to suffer Costa started to pull away, with Van Garderen on his coattails, and Riblon was left in no man’s land. The two French riders were caught and Van Garderen started to fall back too.

Alexander Vinokorov saw his chance to take victory and a possible yellow jersey, as the leaders began to break apart. The Kazakh looked like he might catch Costa, but as he hit the bottom on the final climb his efforts began to show. As the gradient increased so did the gap and he was swallowed up by the peloton, like all the other riders previously.

All the GC favourites kept each other under a watchful eye and any attempt to break ranks was soon quashed. With the finish made for him Philip Gilbert took his opportunity to gain a few vital seconds on the leaders. Gilbert now sits tenth overall in the standings and has a hold of the maillot vert once again. Cadel Evans followed suit, but wasn’t able to build up a significant enough lead to take the yellow jersey. An impressive ride from Thor Hushovd keeps the Norwegian in yellow for the seventh day. For his efforts in the breakaway Van Garderen moved in to the lead in the mountains classification, equal on points with Costa.

The stage was pretty routine with the peloton allowing the breakaway riders to stay out for most of the race. Johnny Hoogerland did his best to defend the polka dot jersey, but the Vacansoleil rider couldn’t quite manage it and he sits one point behind Costa and Van Garderen. The young rider’s competition leader Robert Gesink had a bad day in the saddle and lost almost a minute and a half on the leaders. Despite the problems, he sit holds the white jersey by 59 seconds; former holder Geraint Thomas has continued to fall back down the standings.

Stage 9 will be the toughest stage so far, with three second category climbs and a smattering of fourth and third category climbs. The riders can take solace in the rest day, which follows on Monday.