Froome grabs yellow with Tour de France stage win
AFP July 7, 2013, 12:58 am
CASTRES, France (AFP) - Britain's Chris Froome secured the Tour de France yellow jersey after a stunning win on the first day in the mountains as his rivals slumped on Saturday.
Sky team leader Froome launched a solo attack 5km from the race's first summit finish at Ax-Trois-Domaines and came over the finish 51sec ahead of Sky teammate Richie Porte to underline his overall victory credentials.
Spain's two-time runner-up Alberto Contador finished over a minute behind while 2011 champion Cadel Evans was even further behind at the end of an epic eighth stage.
Stage eight is a 195 km trek from Castres to the summit of Ax-Trois-Domaines.
There are only two climbs, but the formidable Col du Pailheres is an 'hors categorie' (unclassified) monster at 15.3km long with an average gradient of eight percent, and some passages at 10.5.
It featured for the fifth time on the race since 2003, an indication of its attraction to race organisers keen to provide drama in one of the world's most spectacular mountain ranges.
From the highest point of this year's race (2001 metres altitude), a long descent towards Ax-les-Thermes ensues before the bunch tackles the 7.8km (average gradient of 8.2) climb to the summit finish.
