Saint-Girons, France - Luis Leon Sanchez of Spain won the eighth stage of the 2009 Tour de France Saturday as surprise race leader Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy kept his hold on the yellow jersey. Sanchez, 25, was part of a 10-man breakaway group that was reduced to four after the final climb of the stage, the 12.4km ascent to the Col d'Agnes.
The Caisse d'Epargne rider then outkicked his three rivals over the final 100 meters to take his second-ever Tour stage win. Frenchman Sandy Casar finished second, with another Spaniard, Mikel Astarloza, coming in third.
"It's always hard to win a stage. You have to be very lucky," Sanchez said after the stage.
He dedicated the win to his father and to his late brother, who died in a motorcycle accident four years ago. As a result, Sanchez celebrates all his wins by pointing at the sky when he crosses the finish line.
"We rode together. I think he would be happy today," Sanchez said.
Sanchez became the leader of the Caisse d'Epargne team when fellow Spaniard Alejandron Valverde was banned from riding in the Tour for doping.
His time for the tricky mountainous 176.5km course from Andorra la Vella, in the principality of Andorra, to the French town of Saint-Girons was 4 hr 31 min 50 sec, an average speed of 38.96 kph.
The 31-year-old Nocentini, who rides for the French AG2R team, finished with the main pack of riders, 1 min 54 sec behind the winner.
He remained 6 seconds ahead of Spaniard Alberto Contador of the Astana team, with seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong, also from Astana, 8 seconds adrift in third place.
With American Levi Leipheimer in fourth place and Germany's Andreas Kloeden in sixth, the Kazakh Astana team have four riders among the top six in the overall standings.
Sunday's ninth stage will be the last in the Pyrenees Mountains and will take the riders up one of the race's legendary and most difficult climbs, to the Col de Tourmalet, rated Beyond Category in difficulty.
The Tour ends July 26 in Paris.
