Eighth stage of Tour de France gets under way

ANDORRA LA VELLA - The eighth stage of the 2009 Tour de France got underway Saturday in the city of Andorra la Vella, in Andorra, with Italian Tour novice Rinaldo Nocentini wearing the race leader’s yellow jersey.

The 176.5km course to Saint-Girons in France takes the 176 riders left in the race over three mountains, two of them rated category 1 in difficulty, and is ideal for a long breakaway by riders with little hope of winning the Tour but eager to grab a stage victory.

The 31-year-old Nocentini became the first Italian since 2000 to lead the Tour when he joined a successful breakaway in Friday’s seventh stage, the first in the mountains, and former leader Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland faded badly on the 10.4km climb to the finish line.

He also benefitted from the strategy of the Astana team of seven-time Tour champ Lance Armstrong and 2007 winner Alberto Contador, which was based on not taking the yellow jersey so early in the three-week race.

“We were hoping that there would be a breakaway that could succeed with a rider who could take the yellow jersey,” Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel said after Friday’s stage.

After beating Armstrong and the other Tour title contenders, such as Australian Cadel Evans and 2008 winner Carlos Sastre, by 21 seconds to the finish line on Friday, Contador has confirmed his status as odds-on favourite to win this year’s Tour.

He now stands second, 6 seconds behind Nocentini, with Armstrong in third place, another 2 seconds adrift.

Contador was also happy that he failed to take the race lead.

“It’s very good that I didn’t take the yellow jersey,” he said Friday. “We will all be more relaxed in the next few days. Because in the Tour de France, if you are the leader, it is always difficult to control (the race) and it is still a long way to Paris.”

The Tour ends July 26 in the French capital.