Tour De France 2012 Stage 8 Results: Winner, Leaderboard and Highlights

Thibaut Pinot, the youngest rider in this field, won Stage 8 in relatively easy fashion. He cruised the 157.5 km course in 3 hours, 56 minutes, 10 seconds. Pinot gives France their first stage victory at this year's event. 

This spectacular time was good enough for him to cross the finish line 26 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Cadel Evans. This was a solid run for Evans, but it didn't get him any closer to the yellow jersey.

That is due to the fact that the current holder of the yellow jersey, Bradley Wiggins, finished in fourth and in the same peloton as Evans. Stage 9 will be the third straight stage that Wiggins has worn the coveted yellow jersey. 

Things are not all peachy keen for Wiggins though. It seems the yellow jersey has not taken away his temper. Wiggins was asked about speculation in social media that there is some use of performance enhancers. The Associated Press captured the following response from Wiggins: 

"

I cannot be dealing with people like that. It justifies their own bone-idleness because they can't ever imagine applying themselves to anything in their lives. And it's easy for them to sit under a pseudonym on Twitter and write that.

"

Such is life in the current landscape of cycling. 

For the full Stage 8 results, feel free to click here. 

General Classification Leaderboard

1. Bradley Wiggins, Sky, 38:17:56 
2. Cadel Evans, BMC Racing, +00:10
3. Vincenzo Nibali, Liquigas-Cannondale, +00:16
4. Dennis Menchov, Katusha Team, +00:54
5. Haimar Zubeldia Agirre, RadioShack-Nissan, +00:59
6. Christopher Froome, Sky Procycling, +01:32
7. Maxime Monfort, RadioShack-Nissan, +02:08
8. Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Lotto Belisol, +02:11
9. Nicolas Roche, La Mondiale, +02:21
10. Rein Taaramae, Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne, +02:27

Highlights

Samuel Sanchez, the defending Olympic gold medalist, was involved in the nasty crash you can view below. The Associated Press is reporting that he "broke his right hand and injured his left shoulder." 

They also point out that this could cause him to miss the London Games, which should come as no surprise since they are less than a month away. 

What's Next? 

Monday is a time-trial day at the Tour de France. The riders will begin in Arc-en-Senans and make the 41.5 kilometer trek to Besançon. 

There is not one graded climb in this stage, so get ready for the specialists to shine.