Wiggins retains Tour lead ahead of Evans

The youngest rider in this year’s Tour de France, Frenchman Thibaut Pinot, won the eighth stage of the race on Sunday.

Britain’s Bradley Wiggins retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey, ahead of Cadel Evans, on a stage which saw Spain’s Olympic road race champion Samuel Sanchez crash out.

Pinot of FDJ took the eighth stage victory, his maiden win on what is his debut, after 157.5 km of racing over several short but steep climbs in the Swiss Jura that exacted a toll on the peloton.

Defending champion Evans (BMC) finished second in the stage at 26 seconds, the Australian leading home a select group after a failed attempt to shake off Wiggins on the way to the last summit and on the 16km descent to the finish.

Among the finishers with Evans and Wiggins was Italian Vincenzo Nibali, Frank Schleck of Luxembourg and Belgian Jurgen Van den Broeck.

Wiggins, spending his first day in the yellow jersey after his third place finish on Saturday at La Planche des Belles Filles, retained his 10sec lead on second placed Evans with Nibali still third at 16.

Pinot, 22, a climbing specialist, was a late call-up for the three-week epic by manager Marc Madiot.

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