Tour de France 2015: Stage 8 Results, Overall Standings and Highlights

Alexis Vuillermoz won Stage 8 of the 2015 Tour de France in Mur-de-Bretagne.

The AG2R La Mondiale rider fended off Dan Martin in a dramatic sprint finish, while Alejandro Valverde and Peter Sagan followed closely behind. 

The Tour's official Twitter feed captured the moment:

The stage began at a frantic pace as the riders averaged 52 kilometres an hour over the first 10 kilometres.

The pace did not last though, and with the peloton slowing down considerably, four riders found themselves firmly in front.

French trio Sylvain Chavanel, Romain Sicard and Pierre-Luc Perichon, as well as Bora-Argon 18's Bartosz Huzarski, established a three-minute, 20-second gap lead over the pack after 30 kilometres.

The four maintained a comfortable lead over the peloton for much of the first 100 kilometres, as illustrated by the Tour's official Twitter feed and letourdata:

As it passed through the village of Louison Bobet, Thomas De Gendt moved to the head of the peloton, which maintained a steady pace as they approached the first categorised climb of the stage at Col du Mont Bel-Air.

The climb was a forgiving one though, just 1.5 kilometres long and with an average gradient of 5.7 per cent.

The narrow road was made even tighter by the bumper crowd, and Europcar's Sicard took the solitary point on offer for the climb.

Ten kilometres on from the climb lay the intermediate sprint.

Perichon and Huzarski duelled fiercely for the sprint, but the Frenchman was too strong for his opponent and claimed maximum points to the cheers of the home crowd.

In the peloton, Andre Greipel fought off the challenge of John Degenkolb to temporarily extend his lead at the top of the points standings.

Following the sprint a surge of riders from the peloton, including Pierre Rolland and Michal Kwiatkowski, consumed the four leaders.

Team Sky responded by moving to the head of the peloton, which found itself 41 seconds behind a new trio of leaders.

Huzarski was the sole survivor of the counter-attack, and was joined by Lotto-Soudal's Lars Bak and Etixx-Quick Step's Michal Golas.

The trio worked well to extend their lead by a further 30 seconds, while the peloton swept up the 15 riders who led the surge.

Team Sky relayed the situation on Twitter:

Cannondale-Garmin kept the pace of the peloton in line with the leaders, hoping for a stage win for Martin, with the other teams seemingly content to hover immediately behind.

Thanks to Cannondale-Garmin's efforts, the gap was closed to just 30 seconds entering the final 10 kilometres.

A crash between Nicolas Edet and an AG2R La Mondiale rider in the peloton did little to hinder their pursuit, and with the race entering it's final eight kilometres, the three leaders found themselves subsumed once more.

Team Sky placed themselves well for the finish, with Geraint Thomas and Froome making their way to the front of the pack.

The final two kilometres consisted of a brutal climb to the finish, with some parts as steep as 15 per cent.

Froome briefly took the lead, but Vuillermoz pounced, and with 500 metres to go he looked untouchable.

Martin chased the Frenchman for all he was worth, but Vuillermoz was simply too quick.

According to Sky Sports, Vuillermoz said:

"

Third place on the Mur de Huy was obviously amazing, so today I wanted to do something special. I tried two of three times to go, and finally on that third occasion, it worked. I put my head down and pedalled for all I was worth and it’s just about now that I’m beginning to realise I have won the stage.

"

The finish ensures there are no changes to the general classification leaderboard, with Froome leading Peter Sagan by 11 seconds.

Here is a look at the current standings:

Pos	Rider	Time
1	Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky	31:01:56
2	Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo	0:00:11
3	Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team	0:00:13
4	Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto-Soudal	0:00:26
5	Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team	0:00:28
6	Rigoberto Uran (Col) Etixx-Quick Step	0:00:34
7	Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo	0:00:36
8	Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin	0:01:07
9	Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx-Quick Step	0:01:15
10	Bauke Mollema (Net) Team Lotto NL - Jumbo	0:01:32

Pos	Rider	Points
1	Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo	213
2	Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal	210
3	Mark Cavendish (GBr) Etixx - Quick-Step	159
4	John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin	158
5	Bryan Coquard (Fra) Team Europcar	102
6	Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team	73
7	Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx - Quick-Step	63
8	Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal	61
9	Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R-La Mondiale	52
10	Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky	51

Pos	Rider	Points
1	Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) MTN - Qhubeka	4
2	Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha	2
3	Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R-La Mondiale	2
4	Michael Schar (Swi) BMC Racing Team	1
5	Romain Sicard (Fra) Team Europcar	1
6	Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo	1
7	Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal	1
8	Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky	1
9	Daniel Martin (Ire) Cannondale-Garmin	1

The team time-trial awaits in Stage 9 on Sunday.

The 28-kilometre race will be a major test of strength for the genuine contenders for the Tour. The stage will again finish with a climb, so the teams' tactics will be vital to securing the win.

Team Sky will be desperate for a winning stage on Sunday, but don't rule out Tinkoff-Saxo or BMC Racing in what's sure to be a tricky day for all the riders.