Tour de France results: Chris Froome pulls away and takes yellow jersey

Chris Froome broke away on the descent out of the final climb on Saturday and never looked back, taking both the stage victory and the yellow leader's jersey in the Tour de France.

Britain’s Chris Froome celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the eighth stage of the Tour de France on Saturday. Christophe Ena / AP Photo / July 9, 2016

Overall: 1 Chris Froome (GBR) 39:13:04; 2 Adam Yates (GBR) +0:16; 3 Joaquim Rodriguez (ESP) +0:16; 4 Dan Martin (IRE) +0:17; 5 Alejandro Valverde (ESP) +0:19; 6 Nairo Quintana (COL) +0:23; 7 Fabio Aru (ITA) +0:23; 8 Tejay van Garderen (USA) +0:23; 9 Romain Bardet (FRA) +0:23; 10 Bauke Mollema (NED) +0:23

Stage 8: 1 Chris Froome 4:57:33; 2 Dan Martin +0:13; 3 Joaquim Rodriguez +0:13; 4 Romain Bardet +0:13; 5 Roman Kreuziger (CZE) +0:13; 6 Fabio Aru +0:13; 7 Adam Yates +0:13; 8 Alejandro Valverde +0:13; 9 Bauke Mollema +0:13; 10 Richie Porte (AUS) +0:13

Points: 1 Mark Cavendish (GBR) 204pts; 2 Marcel Kittel (GER) 182pts; 3 Peter Sagan (SVK) 177pts

Mountains: 1 Rafal Majka (POL) 31pts; 2 Thibaut Pinot (FRA) 30pts; 3 Chris Froome 22pts

Youth: 1 Adam Yates; 2 Louis Meintjies (RSA); 3 Warren Barguil (FRA)

Chris Froome stunned his Tour de France rivals by attacking on a fast descent to take Stage 8 honours on Saturday and claim the race leader’s yellow jersey.

The reigning champion didn’t make his usual move on the tough last climb but instead broke clear on the 16km descent to the finish.

No-one could follow Froome, who won the stage from Ireland’s Dan Martin and Joaquim Rodriguez of Spain.

It was a fifth stage win in eight for Britons following three for Mark Cavendish and Steve Cummings on Friday.

Meanwhile Dane Michael Morkov was the first cyclist to abandon this year’s Tour de France during the eighth stage in the Pyrenees. The 31-year-old had been struggling for a week since crashing badly on the opening stage and injuring his right thigh and both hands.

Morkov had ploughed on gamely but started Saturday’s 184km stage from Pau to Bagneres de Luchon in last place of the 198-strong peloton, 1hr 38min behind then-leader Greg Van Avermaet and almost 20 minutes behind the next rider.

He was in trouble from the start of Saturday’s stage as the peloton covered an incredible 51km in the first hour.

By the time the Katusha rider crested the first difficulty of the day, the hors categorie (beyond categorisation) Tourmalet mountain, he was already 23 minutes behind the leaders.

News of his abandonment arrived with the peloton around 40km from the stage’s end. It is unprecedented for the first abandonment to come so late in the gruelling race.

And young British cyclist Adam Yates received a personal apology from the Tour de France director after he was knocked flying off his bike by a falling inflatable arch.

Yates, 23, suffered cuts to his face and needed two stitches in his chin after the inflatable arch indicating the final kilometre of Friday’s seventh stage collapsed on top of him.

A spectator had inadvertently dislodged a pin at the base of the arch, which let the air out.

“I’ve got stitches in my chin and my legs are sore but I got pretty lucky,” Yates had said.

Before Saturday’s eighth, Tour director Christian Prudhomme visited Yates in his Orica-GreenEdge team bus.

“I just wanted to say sorry to Adam Yates and to say thank you because he was very elegant in (what he said), and to shake hands with him,” Prudhomme told reporters outside the Australian team’s bus.

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