AX 3 DOMAINES, France — Tour de France favorite Chris Froome overpowered his main rivals on the first tough mountain climb of the race Saturday to win the eighth stage and take the leader's yellow jersey. The British rider finished second overall last year behind countryman Bradley Wiggins, but it will be difficult to stop him going one better this time on the evidence of this win. The 28-year-old Froome attacked early into the stage's second big climb up to Ax 3 Domaines — and no one could follow him. His nearest challenger was teammate Richie Porte, who finished 51 seconds behind in second. “We rode from the front and the team was absolutely perfect today, there was no need to stress,” Porte said. “I'm absolutely finished but it was an incredible day.” Two-time Tour champion Alberto Contador dropped back, as did 2010 champion Andy Schleck and 2011 champion Cadel Evans. Froome took the yellow jersey from South African cyclist Daryl Impey, his former training partner. Contador was 1:45 behind Froome, Schleck trailed by 3:34 and the 36-year-old Evans was 4:13 adrift. The 195-kilometer (121-mile) trek started from Castres and stayed flat for a long time before ending with the two huge climbs. The Col de Pailheres came first — a ferociously tough ascent for about nine miles at a gradient of eight percent — and then a shorter but even steeper ride to the finish at the ski resort of Ax 3 Domaines. Colombian rider Nairo Quintana broke away to launch a brutal attack up Pailheres, and only Frenchman Pierre Roland initially followed him, but Porte rode a brilliant tempo to help Froome steadily gain ground on them. Schleck, Evans and then Rolland were dropped with about 4 miles left to go up to Ax 3 Domaines as Contador desperately tried to stay on Porte's wheel. Porte had damaged Contador so much that he even struggling to keep up with teammate Roman Kreuziger, so Froome decided it was then time to attack. He climbed with such blistering acceleration that it was almost like he was riding a time trial. He swiped Quintana away and then overtook Porte. On another hot day well into the 30s Celsius (above 90 Fahrenheit), Impey struggled up Pailheres and soon dropped back to join a large group of stragglers. Roland caught Quintana at the bottom of the final climb up to Ax 3 Domaines, while Froome was about 20 seconds behind with Sky driving from the front of the chasing pack. That margin was soon eaten up as Froome zoomed to victory. — AP
