Stage 8

The road

How it was won

1. 197 km to go

   Yellow slips away on the Tourmalet

   Pinot and Majka forge clear on the great climb with Tony Martin dragging himself across two-thirds of the way up. Behind, Sky's tempo shakes out Alaphilippe — and Greg Van Avermaet, whose yellow jersey is gone the moment he loses the wheel.

2. 263 km to go

   Pinot leads over the Hourquette

   Pinot takes the Hourquette d'Ancizan ahead of Majka and Martin with Sergio Henao heading the favourites ninety seconds back.

3. 335 km to go

   Majka denied at the top

   Movistar's Oliveira drags the whole group up to the leaders on the Val Louron-Azet. Majka surges late for maximum mountain points only for Poels and Froome to spring past him at the line — though the Pole will still take the polka dots home.

4. 418 km to go

   Three kilometres from the top, it explodes

   Henao attacks. Quintana and Valverde answer, Froome goes with them, Dan Martin counters, Bardet accelerates — a flurry of blows that splits the group and leaves Contador and Barguil behind.

5. 515 km to go

   Froome attacks the descent

   Everyone expects the summit of the Peyresourde to be the end of it. Instead the yellow-jersey favourite drops onto his top tube and throws himself down the mountain, pedalling a tiny gear in a crouch nobody has seen at the Tour, and in a few hairpins he is gone. It is the most improbable attack of the race and it shreds every argument that descending is Chris Froome's weakness.

6. 6At the line

   Froome takes Luchon and yellow

   Froome holds thirteen seconds into Bagnères-de-Luchon, wins the stage and pulls on the maillot jaune he will not give up again.

The result