First French rider to triumph: Alexis Vuillermoz takes Tour de France eighth stage

The 27-year-old former mountain biker escaped on the final 2km climb to the finish at Mur de Bretagne following a 181.5km stage from Rennes while Ireland’s Dan Martin timed his counter-attack a shade too late.

Stage winner Alexis Vuillermoz of France, right, breaks away from the pack with Britain's Christopher Froome, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, in the final climb towards the finish line in Show more

Mur-de-Bretagne, France // Alexis Vuillermoz said he had been inspired by his late father as he gave the hosts their first victory at the Tour de France this year with success on Saturday’s eighth stage.

The 27-year-old former mountain biker took his chance with 800m left on the tough finish at the Mur de Bretagne to take a solo victory.

“After winning I thought about my dad who died three years ago. He was the one who got me interested in the Tour de France, he used to take my cousins and I to the side of the road to watch the Tour go past,” said Vuillermoz.

“I hope today he’s proud of me.”

Ireland’s Dan Martin timed his counter-attack a shade too late and finished second at 5sec, frustrated at having been too slow to react.

A shredded peloton arrived next at 10sec with Spaniard Alejandro Valverde winning the sprint ahead Slovakia’s Peter Sagan and Frenchman Tony Gallopin.

Chris Froome finished eighth in the same group to maintain his overall lead by 11sec from Sagan, while American Tejay Van Garderen is third at 13sec.

But Briton Froome, the 2013 winner, did strike another blow to reigning champion Vincenzo Nibali who lost 10 seconds as he was dropped by the lead group on the 2km climb to the finish with its 6.9 percent gradient.

He is now 13th overall at 1min 48sec.

Froome admitted it was a shock to hear Nibali had struggled.

“I was very surprised to hear that actually, especially given that up the final climb it was predominately into a headwind up there, which made it relatively easy to stay on the wheels,” he said.

“So I’m really surprised to hear that, especially with quite a big group up front.”

Two-time former winner Alberto Contador and Colombian Nairo Quintana stayed with the lead group, though, finishing 14th and 17th respectively to remain at 36sec and 1min 56sec of Froome.

Following Sunday’s team time-trial and Monday’s rest day, the true battle will commence on Tuesday’s first mountain-top finish at La Pierre-Saint Martin with a final 15.3km, 7.4 percent climb to the summit.

Vuillermoz’s victory went some way to glossing over what had been a disappointing Tour for the hosts so far.

Not only did they have to wait eight stages for a winner but overall hopes Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet’s hopes of a podium finish have been fading almost daily.

They both lost a little more time and now sit 29th at 6min 33sec and 20th at 3min 15sec respectively.

AG2R’s Vuillermoz, though, impressed with his willingness to attack on the final climb, even leaving Froome in his wake when he made the decisive move.

“Back in my mountain bike days, even when I was next to a great champion I wasn’t afraid to attack them,” said the winner.

“On the road it’s the same, they’ve got two legs and two arms just like the rest of us, so I have no problem trying to attack them.

“It’s true Chris Froome is a great champion, he’s a much better rider than me but what’s beautiful about road racing is that you can beat them riding smartly.

“Today I felt great but I think I also managed to exploit my opportunity.”

Froome admitted he was impressed with Vuillermoz’s performance.

“He rode a very good stage today and when he attacked, not just once but the second time, it was really a very strong attack. I think he deserves his victory today, it was a very impressive ride.”

Earlier, a four man breakaway took off within 5km of the start but were never allowed more than a 3min lead over the pack.

But they were reeled in shortly after the intermediate sprint, 108km into the stage, after which a new three-man break formed, with Pole Bartosz Huzarski managing to get into both.

But that one was never given more than a minute’s leeway and was brought back with 8km left as the favourites’ teams cranked up the pace to set up their leaders for the final battle.

Tour de France eighth stage results

A 112.7-mile hilly ride from Rennes to Mur-de-Bretagne, with a Category 4 climb midway and a finishing Category 3 climb up Mur de Bretagne

1. Alexis Vuillermoz, France, AG2R La Mondiale, 4 hours, 20 minutes, 55 seconds.

2. Daniel Martin, Ireland, Cannondale-Garmin, 5 seconds behind.

3. Alejandro Valverde, Spain, Movistar, :10.

4. Peter Sagan, Slovakia, Tinkoff-Saxo, same time.

5. Tony Gallopin, France, Lotto-Soudal, same time.

6. Greg Van Avermaet, Belgium, BMC Racing, same time.

7. Adam Yates, Britain, Orica GreenEdge, same time.

8. Chris Froome, Britain, Sky, same time.

9. Bauke Mollema, Netherlands, Trek Factory Racing, same time.

10. Tejay Van Garderen, United States, BMC Racing, same time.

11. Julian Arredondo, Colombia, Trek Factory Racing, same time.

12. Joaquim Rodriguez, Spain, Katusha, same time.

13. Warren Barguil, France, Giant-Alpecin, same time.

14. Alberto Contador, Spain, Tinkoff-Saxo, same time.

15. Rigoberto Uran, Colombia, Etixx-QuickStep, same time

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