Desbiens Grabs Tour de France Lead
France, rocked by a Tour de France doping scandal, at last had something to celebrate in the Tour when Jacky Durand won Sunday's eighth stage and compatriot Laurent Desbiens took the overall leader's yellow jersey.
Durand, a former French champion, outsprinted his six breakaway companions at the end of the 190.5 kms stage held in intense heat to win in just under five hours.
"I attacked every day since the start of the Tour... I knew my chance would come," said Durand, who won a stage in 1994 and the prologue in 1995.
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His Casino team have now won 43 races this season.
Italians Andrea Tafi and Fabio Sacchi were second and third respectively after the first long successful breakaway in this year's Tour.
Desbiens had won a stage last year in Perpignan but, unlike Durand, had never held the yellow jersey in the world's most prestigious race.
"I won a stage last year and I was hoping to do the same again this season. But this is even better," said the 28-year-old from Lille.
Desbiens, Durand, Tafi, Sacchi, along with France's Philippe Gaumont, Italian Eddy Mazzoleni and Finn Joona Laukka, launched the decisive move after 74 kms and crossed the finish line with a lead of 7:45 over the main bunch.
Last year's winner Jan Ullrich of Germany, who seized the overall lead by winning Saturday's time trial, kept it for only 24 hours. He now lies fourth overall, 3:21 behind Desbiens.
Durand was dropped from his Casino team for the Tour last year and was eager to prove his team director Vincent Lavenu wrong.
"It hurt me a lot last year and I'm not the kind of rider to sit on a defeat. I think I deserved to be here this year, didn't I?" he said.
"There was only one rider I feared in the sprint -- Gaumont. But he worked so hard for his team mate Desbiens that he had no strength left."
Desbiens also wanted to set the record straight after he was awarded victory last year in Perpignan by the race jury at the end of a hard-fought sprint which led to Ukrainian Serguei Outschakov being disqualified.
"Some people had questioned my victory then. I knew there was a chance today and I had like a vision that I would do something great," he said.
Desbiens also had his career tarnished in April 1996 when he failed a dope test for the banned steroid nandrolone.
He leads Tai overall by 14 seconds and Durand by 43 seconds.
The riders had left Brive without the nine Festina riders who were excluded from the Tour on Saturday after their director was quoted as saying doping substances were made available to the team. They all left their hotel and returned home.
Monday's ninth stage takes the 172 remaining riders to Pau over 210 kms. It will be the last stage before the Pyrenees.
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