Tour de France Stage 8 - Froome no chicken as he punches to win

Stage 8 took the 2016 Tour de France into the Pyrenees, and you know it's a serious stage when the Col du Tourmalet is the first of four climbs before a huge 16km descent. And Andy was on hand to guide you through the mountains.
As we joined the stage, the Tourmalet had already been passed, and had had some pretty significant effects on the shape of the race.
Pinot was first over the Tourmalet as he shifted his focus to the King of the Mountains jersey having lost a big chunk of time yesterday. But the real news of note was the yellow jersey dropping way off the back of the peloton, the start of a tough day in the saddle for van Avermaet, whose gloomy predictions that he wouldn't hold the lead through the Pyrenees were proved to be dead right.
The virtual polka dot jersey was Pinot's reward for his early stage efforts, although he would not keep it to the end of the stage. Meanwhile, van Avermaet's struggles meant the virtual yellow jersey for a man who's rapidly achieving the sought-after status of TLG favourite.

Yates We Can. Greg van Avermaet could count himself lucky in one respect, too, as while he was losing the lead, unlike some he still had Nibbles close at hand.
It's not easy, being a TLG reporter. It's even harder being Mark Cavendish, as our jersey watch had to look a hell of a long way back for the green jersey wearer.
Cav at least had Bernie Eisel for company, who would eventually drag him onto the back of the gruppetto, finishing just inside the cut. Morkov was not so lucky.
Back at the front, struggles for Thibaut Pinot.
Pinot dropping back was the end of the breakaway group, as Sky drove the peloton on to catch them just before the penultimate summit. After which, Andy's pre-race predictions reared their ugly head again.

Andy was also struggling.
Get that man a Twix. Although not from Limoges, apparently.
Having never been to Limoges we can neither condone nor denounce such a statement. Before the serious end of the stage comes around, here's Chris Froome being annoyed not by fuck, but by cluck.
Right, game time. Normally someone of Majka's calibre being dropped off the lead group would be big news, but as he went backwards, it started getting very interesting at the front.


The TLG BIG NEWS CAPS LOCK was in full use there, as Froome kicked on after punching out earlier, going down the descent solo, but not everyone was looking at his speed.
Froome's nipples seemed to have the beating of the rest of the pack, as he extended his lead over 20 seconds at one point in the descent, but it then began to steadily drop again as Quintana, Bardet, Rodriguez, Aru et al gave chase. Could anyone catch him before the finish?
No. Dan Martin and Joaquin Rodriguez took second and third, so with time bonuses Froome made up 23 seconds on his GC rivals, and with van Avermaet losing all of his six minute lead and then some, the path was clear for Froome to take the overall lead.
A good day all round for the Brits, then, as Yates also retained second overall behind Froome. The new leader wondered aloud if he'd taken too much out of himself on the descent before a tough Stage 9. Find out with our live coverage of it, coming soon to a Twitter feed near you. As long as you follow us.

Stage results:
1. Chris Froome (SKY) 4:57:33
2. Dan Martin (EQS) + :13
3. Joaquin Rodriguez (KAT) + :13

General Classification:
1. Chris Froome (SKY) 39:13:04
2. Adam Yates (OBE) + :16
3. Joaquin Rodriguez (KAT) + :16
4. Dan Martin (EQS) + :17
5. Alejandro Valverde (MOV) + :19

Sprint Classification:
1. Mark Cavendish (DDD) 204
2. Marcel Kittel (EQS) 182
3. Peter Sagan (TNK) 175

 King of the Mountains:
1. Rafal Majka (TNK) 31
2. Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) 30
3. Chris Froome (SKY) 22
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