Andy showed incredible power by winning today's stage in France where he dropped Alberto Contador (Astana) and Cadel Evans (BMC) and won crucial seconds in the overall rankings wearing the white jersey.

Today's eighth and 189 kilometer long stage from Station de Rousses to Morzine-Avoriaz was a treat for the overall favorites with two big mountain climbs with an uphill finish on the final climb.
Andy was looking very strong on yesterday's first mountain stage of the Tour de France where he conquered the white jersey with teammate, Chris Anker Sørensen by his side to the very top of the climb.

A breakaway containing seven riders dominated the stage from the gun but the odds og making it all the way to the finish line were slim. And on the second last climb, Saxo Bank took the control of the pace with Matti Breschel and Jakob Fuglsang pulling the pace hard enough to drop big names like Lance Armstrong, Andreas Klöden (Radioshack), Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) and Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step).

At the foot of the last climb over 13 kilometers with a 6% average gradient, three riders had a 1½ minute-lead to a group of favorites consisting of among other Team Andy, Jakob Fuglsang and Alberto Contador (Astana).

On the way to the top of the final climb, the break was caught while the front group was narrowed down to the overall favorites. And here, Andy demonstrated simple sovereignty by jumping away from his biggest rivals, Alberto Contador (Astana) and Cadel Evans (BMC) with Samuel Sanchez (Euskatel) and oversprinted the Spaniard on the finiah line taking his first Tour de France stage win in superb style.

”I'm in the shape of my life and soon noticed that Alberto (Contador) was feeling bad so of course I wanted to gain as much as possible of the situation. I am going for the overall win and this stage was just one step on the ladder to the big win but there's a long way to Paris and everything can happen. Now I know I am the strongest on the climb and I'm looking for another battle in the mountains,” said a smiling stage winner, Andy.

Andy is now second overall, 20 seconds behind Cadel Evans (BMC) while Alberto Contador (Astana) is third, 1.01 minutes behind the leading rider.