Wiggins keeps pace but Cavendish loses green

Spanish rider Luis Leon Sanchez won the eighth stage of the Tour de France in the Pyrenees. He was part of an early breakaway that was eventually whittled down to four riders, and as they approached the line Sanchez snatched the lead from Frenchman Sandy Casar.

Overall leader Rinaldo Nocentini kept the yellow jersey as he and the other main contenders, including Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong and Briton Bradley Wiggins finished in the peloton.

But Britain's Mark Cavendish lost the green jersey to Norway's Thor Hushovd after the Norwegian won the all important sprinting points after joining an early breakaway.

There was also a change in the King of the Mountains standings with Christophe Kern taking the polka dot jersey from stage seven winner Brice Feillu.

Wiggins retained fifth place in the race after another impressive ride.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING:

Daniel Friebe, Sunday Telegraph: "As Lance Armstrong hauled his bike and the most sculpted, scrutinised 37 year-old carcass in professional sport up a baking Pyrenean mountain road, the seven-time Tour de France winner’s field of vision was flooded by a long and unfamiliar silhouette. Armstrong will have been glad that, for once, the shadow looming menacingly over his hopes of an eighth Tour win belonged to the Briton Bradley Wiggins and not his Astana team-mate Alberto Contador."

Lionel Birnie, Sunday Times: "Sanchez, a 25-year-old riding for the Caisse d'Epargne team, won a stage at Aurillac last year, breaking away to win alone. This time he had to use all his wits to outfox three riders in the final kilometre. Rinaldo Nocentini, the Italian riding for AG2R who took the yellow jersey at Arcalís in Andorra on Friday, defended his six-second lead over Alberto Contador. Britain's Mark Cavendish relinquished his grip on the green jersey he has held since Sunday when his biggest rival in the points competition, Thor Hushovd of Norway, joined the early break and won two intermediate sprints while the Manxman toiled."