Tour de France Stage 8: Chris Froome takes stage and yellow jersey (+ videos)

Chris Froome (Team Sky) rode his way into the yellow jersey thanks to a daredevil descent off the Col de Peyresourde. Dan Martin (Etixx–Quick Step) took second on the day, while Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) moved up to second overall.

The peloton covered 51km in the first hour of the 184km stage from Pau to Bagnères-de-Luchon as a whole series of riders tried to make a break stick.

Thibaut Pinot attacked on the Tourmalet at around the point that Greg van Avermaet, in the yellow jersey, was dropped. He was joined by Rafal Majka and the pair opened up a gap before being joined by Tony Martin.

Tour tech: Chris Froome's Pinarello Dogma F8

All three were caught by the peloton on the first category Col de Val Louron-Azet and Pinot was soon dropped as well.

Riders steadily dropped off throughout the final climb of the Col de Peyresourde and a Chris Froome acceleration near the summit then thinned out the front group considerably. Alberto Contador was among those distanced and he would go on to lose 1m41s on the day.

Come the summit, Froome attacked to create a small gap ready for the descent. Down on the top tube, his chest pressed against the bars – and pedalling from that position on the flatter sections – Froome moved further and further away from his rivals.

“Old school bike racing – just fun,” was how he described his effort afterwards. By the finish, his lead was 13 seconds and he also earned a 10 second time bonus as stage winner.

After three stages for Mark Cavendish and one for Steve Cummings, this was the fifth stage victory out of eight for British riders.