1:07am - And the winner is Luis Leon Sanchez!
12:51am - 10km to go one and of the front four will definatley win it from here. (The Aussies are storming home in the cricket just quietly too!)
12:31am - May have gone off a bit early their - the peleton slowed the tempo up the top of the climb and allowed Nocentini to get back on - he'll keep the jersey for another day. In doing so however it ensures one of the 4 escapees (Casar, Sanchez, Efimkin, Astraloza) will win the day. My money is on Sanchez.
12:00am - And its Andy Schleck with the first shots across the bow of the GC contenders. A Schleck attack splits the peleton to pieces but he is quickly followed by a bevy of 4 Astana riders including Amrstrong and Contador. All the faves are left in a select group of 15 or so about 80 seconds behind the breakaway. The yellow jersery has been dropped however and can kiss goodbye to that tonight.
11:42pm - Cancellara has been dropped from the escape on the early slopes of the climb. A fast tempo from Astana on the front of the peleton has seen the breakaways lead cut to just 2 minutes with a bit over 50km remaining.
11:19pm - Not much to report as the leaders approach the final cat-1 climb of the stage. The escape leads by around 3 minutes with 70km to go.
10:52pm - 2006 Tour winner Oscar Pereiro has just abandoned the race. He has not looked in good form at all in this years event. The group of 10 seemed to have been bestowed the honour of the days escape. The peleton has eased up a little and they now trail the breakaway by around 2:30 with 80km still to go.
10:21pm - Well peleton etitquette has worked and Evans is back in the peleton. A revised group of 10 (inc. Hushovd, Hincapie, and Cancellara) now leads the stage. and Hushovd is the virtual leader in the points competition after picking up a maximum 6 points in the 1st intermediate sprint today.
10:01 - And it's not happy families in the breakaway at the moment. Hushovd and Cassar have been dissolved into the Evans group and the senior statesman (Hincapie, Hushovd and Cancellara) have literally demand Evans go back to the peleton and letter the lesser lights have their day. Evans is having none of that though.
9:40pm - I have never seen a start of a stage like it! Hushovd has bridged the gap and now past the Evans group on the descent and set out after Casar - god knows how he got over that climb. Evans group has been re-enforced by none other than Fabian Cancellara as well. It seems the Astana boys have had enough though - they've sent their men to the front of the peleton.
9:25pm - And here's an even bigger turn up! Evans has attacked that group! Unheard of. 160km to go and Evan's is now in a group of 5 pursuing stage leader Sandy Casar with the peleton a further minute back. Not since Flloyd Landis' ill-fated ride to Morzine have I seen a GC contender on the attack so early in a stage - go Cadel go!
9:08pm - Here's a turn up! Against the normal structure of racing a group of 30 has gone off the front. Not unusual, but this group contains the White Jersey the Polka Dot Jersey, Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck, and Andreas Kloden! Surely the peleton won't let this last!
8:44pm - And they're off! The race is underway for the day. There has been a flurry of attacks but so far no real escape has been established. Spaniard Egoi Martinez is currently up in front a few 100m ahead of the peleton. You might remember Martinez as he was part of the breakaway to Prata Nevoso last year - a stage won by Australia's Simon Gerrans.
8:23 - Looks a lovely morning in Saint Girons - nice and sunny for the riders. Today the riders will go over a cat-2 climb and 2 cat-1 climbs. Unfortunatley they are too far out from the finish to shake up the GC standings I think.
8:00pm - Hello and welcome to live coverage of Stage 8 a 176.5km ride from Andorre La Vielle to Saint Girons.
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