• Tour de France, Stage Eight

Froome dominates Stage Eight to take the yellow jersey

Chris Froome and Team Sky were dominant in Stage Eight © Getty Images

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A blistering attack in the second of two mammoth climbs towards the first mountain-top finish of the 195km Stage Eight into the Pyrenees saw Chris Froome leave all his rivals for dead as he took the Tour de France yellow jersey.

Team Sky took the one-two with Richie Porte finishing second, 52 seconds behind Froome, who won the first mountain stage - just as he did last year - with a time of five hours, three minutes and 17 seconds.

Four kilometres from the summit, Porte, inspired by his team-mate, launched his own attack to secure a safe distance ahead of third place and emphasise Team Sky's domination.

Grimacing as he strode into Ax 3 Domaines, Froome finally allowed himself a beaming smile as he crossed the line just short of a minute ahead of Porte, with Spain's Alejandro Valverde further 16 seconds back - just ahead of Dutch duo Bauke Mollema and Laurens ten Dam.

Alberto Contador, considered Froome's main rival ahead of the Tour, struggled on the final climb and finished one minute and 45 seconds back.

Froome leads Porte by 51 seconds in the general classification, with Valverde in third place. Contador is seventh.

"I couldn't be happier," Froome said. "It really has been a very nervous week building up to now but the team has done a fantastic job to come through the first week in such a strong position.

"To win the stage and get Richie in second is a dream come true - it was the first proper GC day and it couldn't have gone better.

"We were put under pressure and there are still two weeks to go and there's definitely going to be a lot of attacks to withstand. Now we have the jersey we're going to have to defend it."

Stage Eight result
1. Chris Froome (Sky) 5hr 03min 17sec
2. Richie Porte (Team Sky) +52sec
3. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) +1min 08sec
4. Bauke Mollema (Belkin) +1min 10sec
5. Laurens ten Dam (Belkin) +1min 16sec
6. Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel) +1min 34sec
7. Roman Kreuziger (Saxo-Tinkoff) +1min 45sec
8. Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) +1min 45sec
9. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) +1min 45sec
10. Igor Anton (Spain / Euskaltel)+1min 45sec

General Classification
1. Chris Froome (Sky) 32hr 15min 55sec
2. Richie Porte (Sky) +51sec
3. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) +1min 25sec
4. Bauke Mollema (Belkin) +1min 44sec
5. Laurens ten Dam (Belkin) +1min 50sec
6. Roman Kreuziger (Saxo-Tinkoff) +1min 51sec
7. Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) +1min 51sec
8. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) +2min 02sec
9. Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) +2min 31sec
10. Michael Rogers (Saxo-Tinkoff) +2min 40sec

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