Tour De France 2016: Stage 8 Results, Overall Standings and Highlights

Team Sky's Chris Froome raced into yellow with a brilliant win on Stage 8 of the Tour de France, leaving his rivals trailing on the descent from Col de Peyresourde on Saturday. 

The reigning champion produced a fine technical effort to grab the maillot jaune and take hold of the race in the process. At the end of the stage, he's 23 seconds clear of main rival Nairo Quintana of Movistar, who failed to keep pace with the Briton in the final section, and 16 ahead of second place Adam Yates of Orica-BikeExchange.

Daniel Martin of Etixx-Quick Step and Katusha's Joaquim Rodriguez were second and third on the day, respectively.

Here are the results of an absorbing stage and the overall standings courtesy of the event's Twitter feed and Sky Sports Cycling:

Froome Takes Control

There was a brisk early pace set by the riders, even with the daunting hors categorie climb to come. Eventually a breakaway of 13 riders did form, although things quickly changed once the ascent started.

FDJ's Thibaut Pinot was one of the first to attack, moving to the front of the field. He was followed by Tinkoff's Rafal Majka and Tony Martin of Etixx, with the trio racing to scale the first and most punishing summit of the day in pole position. Meanwhile, Etixx's Julian Alaphilippe and Astana's Vincenzo Nibali were finding the pace in the Team Sky-driven peloton tough to cope with, falling back.

As noted letourdata, it was Pinot, who struggled for pace on the ascent on Friday, that conquered the famous Col du Tourmalet first to set up a fascinating finish:

With three more climbs to come, there was still plenty of racing left on Saturday. Indeed, as the riders came over the top of the Tourmalet, it became clear the yellow jersey was going to change hands, with BMC's Greg van Avermaet around seven minutes back on the peloton.

The leading trio were gradually reeled in by the peloton after a sharp descent and as the riders geared up for some more climbs, all the riders in contention for the general classification were preparing themselves for potential attacks.

While there was some intense competition going on, the suffocating heat meant that all the riders had to work together at some points, including the two favourites to win the yellow jersey, per the Movistar Twitter feed:

There was a nasty crash for LottoNL-Jumbo's Wilco Kelderman, who failed to properly negotiate a hairpin on the testing run down from the Col d’Azet, something that served as a reminder of how tricky the descents were on the day. At the bottom, the riders braced themselves for another first category ascent to Col de Peyresourde.

JEFF PACHOUD/Getty Images

Team Sky had been turning the screw at the front for a long time by this point, with Pinot dropping off the lead group. And they were relentless in their pace, leaving plenty of high quality riders falling off the back of the front-runners, including Tinkoff's Alberto Contador.

Froome decided to attack on the climb, and although it was quickly negotiated by Quintana, the Team Sky man went again at the summit, surging into his descent and opening up a significant gap. Ross Tucker had a warning for the fans as the champion burst ahead:

As we can see here courtesy of journalist Jose Been, he was holding nothing back as he sought his first stage victory of the year:

"

Froome does the Mohoric. Very risky #TDF pic.twitter.com/jvQ7WRZbsW

— José Been (@TourDeJose) July 9, 2016"

Froome slipped into time trial mode and the gap, despite having no markers in front of him, was beginning to open up, with Quintana hesitant to chase down, looking for support from team-mate Alejandro Valverde. It left the Team Sky man with a stage victory to savour and a chance to slip on the maillot jaune for the first time this year.

Here's the moment the two-time Tour winner crossed the finish line at the end of a brutal day in the Pyrenees, per Eurosport UK:

"It was just bit of fun really. I thought I’d give it a try, I had a go on the climb and nothing was sticking and I thought I’d give it a go and see what I could do on the descent—see if I could catch someone out," he said afterwards, per Cycling News. "It was real old-school bike racing, just fun"

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

The stage was managed superbly by Team Sky. They were mechanical in the pace they set up front, building things for their team leader at the top of the final climb. The strength in depth the squad possessed was there for all to see too, with Sergio Henao putting in some brilliant work on Saturday.

Few would have anticipated an attack of such magnitude from Froome on the descent, though. Last year he blew the race apart with a stunning finish on Stage 10, leaving the field trailing on a steep climb. Today the British rider showcased his brilliant versatility and made a major statement to those looking to wrestle the yellow jersey from him.