“I take some really good morale from knowing that I could attack and not have Contador follow me. Maybe he takes it the other way but I’m happy. For me it’s a fantastic stage win – everything worked out to be perfect. It’s hard but the team can have confidence in me and I promise to them that I’ll fight until Paris – I’ll fight until I fall off my bike.” - Andy Schleck

Andy Schleck attacks in the final kilometer of Stage 8 - photo by Graham Watson

While Stage 7 provided enough changes in elevation to allow the mountain specialist to finally assert themselves, and the expected leaders to gain time that had been lost to many of the sprinters, Stage 8 would serve as the exclamation point.  Lance Armstrong was in one way or another victimized by no less than three crashes.  Lady Luck was ever so cruel to Armstrong today who is now trailing the leader by over 13 minutes.  His GC hopes have been dashed.

The last couple of kilometers was controlled by team Astana, with Andy Schleck riding the wheel of Alberto Contador.  It was the last kilometer when Schleck threw it into high gear and left Contador in the dust as he sprinted to the finish line.  Samuel Sanchez seemed to come out of nowhere and quickly counter-attacked. Schleck rode his wheel and let Sanchez do the heavy lifting until the last few seconds where he pulled ahead and took the stage win.

In the video, Schleck is mostly shown trailing Contador, who’s wearing the team Astona aqua and yellow jersey. Schleck is in the white Team Saxo Bank jersey and white sunglasses and takes off about 4:35 into the video. Look for Sanchez’s counter-attack, he’s wearing the team Euskaltel Euskadi orange jersey.

Sunday’s Stage 8 results:

1.	SCHLECK Andy	11	TEAM SAXO BANK
2.	SANCHEZ Samuel	181	EUSKALTEL – EUSKADI		+ 00′ 00″
3.	GESINK Robert	195	RABOBANK		+ 00′ 10″
4.	KREUZIGER Roman	44	LIQUIGAS-DOIMO		+ 00′ 10″
5.	CONTADOR Alberto	1	ASTANA		+ 00′ 10″
6.	EVANS Cadel	121	BMC RACING TEAM		+ 00′ 10″
7.	VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen	101	OMEGA PHARMA – LOTTO		+ 00′ 10″
8.	LEIPHEIMER Levi	25	TEAM RADIOSHACK		+ 00′ 10″
9.	BASSO Ivan	41	LIQUIGAS-DOIMO		+ 00′ 10″
10.	MENCHOV Denis	191	RABOBANK		+ 00′ 10″

Current over all standings as of Sunday, July 11th:

1.	EVANS Cadel	121	BMC RACING TEAM		+00′ 00″
2.	SCHLECK Andy	11	TEAM SAXO BANK		+ 00′ 20″
3.	CONTADOR Alberto	1	ASTANA		+ 01′ 01″
4.	VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen	101	OMEGA PHARMA – LOTTO		+ 01′ 03″
5.	MENCHOV Denis	191	RABOBANK		+ 01′ 10″
6.	HESJEDAL Ryder	54	GARMIN – TRANSITIONS		+ 01′ 11″
7.	KREUZIGER Roman	44	LIQUIGAS-DOIMO		+ 01′ 45″
8.	LEIPHEIMER Levi	25	TEAM RADIOSHACK		+ 02′ 14″
9.	SANCHEZ Samuel	181	EUSKALTEL – EUSKADI		+ 02′ 15″
10.	ROGERS Michael	118	TEAM HTC – COLUMBIA		+ 02′ 31″
11.	GESINK Robert	195	RABOBANK		+ 02′ 37″
12.	SASTRE Carlos	91	CERVELO TEST TEAM		+ 02′ 40″
13.	BASSO Ivan	41	LIQUIGAS-DOIMO		+ 02′ 41″
14.	WIGGINS Bradley	31	SKY PRO CYCLING		+ 02′ 45″
15.	VINOKOUROV Alexandre	9	ASTANA		+ 03′ 05″

Monday is a rest day and on Tuesday they’ll be back in the Alps for several monster stages in the mountains. Check out the profile for the brutal 204.5 kilometer Stage 9 Morzine-Avoriaz to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne: