Honchar holds on through Stage Eight

Stage 8, Tour de France

The riders began the stage from St.-Méen-le-Grand, a French village which has been recognised for its affinity to the tour. All of France loves the tour, Brittany more so. It is the home of Bernard Hinault and Louison Bobet who won the tour eight times between them. The tour awarded the friendship medal to the mayor of St.-Méen-le-Grand, Bernard Josse and the priest Rev. Michel Leroy, who advanced Sunday Mass to Saturday so that all of them including himself could be present at the start of the stage on Sunday.

In the event the French had reason to celebrate, as a French rider - Sylvain Calzati cycling for a French team - AG2R won the stage ahead of Kjell Carlstrom and another Frenchman Patrice Halgand of Credit Agricole.

The peloton comprising of leader Serhiy Honchar, second placed Floyd Landis and Australian Michael Rogers who is third currently arrived 10 seconds behind the stage winners. They will retain their top three spots in overall classification. A minute separates the top two, while a mere three seconds separate Landis and Rogers.

But as the riders reached Lorient in Brittany, it was news concerning the health of Landis that overshadowed the completion of stage eight. Landis confirmed a New York Times report that he is indeed due for a hip replacement surgery. He spoke of incessant pain and the constant struggle that life is for him as a cyclist. The surgery is likely to put Landis out of cycling for the rest of the year, besides an extremely demanding rehabilitation process. For the moment though he is a strong favourite for the tour, and is keen to continue cycling after the surgery.