Saturday, September 14: Live updates from Stage 8
JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA, Spain

4:40 p.m. (local time):
The stage started slowly, with headwinds most of the way, At the eight-kilometer mark, four guys went out early, led by Neil Stephens (ONCE). They had a 30-second lead at 13 kilometers.

In the first points sprint at the 23-kilometer mark, Stephens won, followed by Santos Gonzalez (Kelme-Artiach).

At 30 kilometers, the lead riders gave up their break.

At the next sprint, the first without a time bonus, the peloton went through, led by Jurgen Werner (Telekom).

At the 94-kilometer mark, the first Category 3 climb, American Bobby Julich (Motorla) was knocked off his bike by Dimitri Konyshev (AKI-Gipiemme). He got back on, and Konyshev was penalized during that climb, getting no points.

Tony Rominger (Mapei) won the climb, second was Fabian Jeker (Festina-Lotus).

Julich continued riding, and won the second Category 3 climb at the 140-kilometer mark. So he keeps the climber jersey for one more day. Second was a teammate Andrea Peron, third was Rominger, and fourth, Laurent Jalabert (ONCE).

Several riders tried to make breaks over the next 40 kilometers. At the final points sprint, with 37 kilometers to go in Cadiz, Jalabert won, with Fabio Baldato (MG-Technogym) second.

5:20 p.m. (local time):
Nicola Minali (Gewiss) won the eighth stage, beating Giovanni Lombardi (Polti) by a tire length in the final field sprints. Finishing third was Jeroen Blijlevens (TVM). Baldato and Jalabert finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Baldato retains the overall lead, and Lombardi moves into second place on time bonuses, 20 seconds behind.

Jalabert is in third, 21 seconds back.

The second group of riders finished 4:53 behind, the top in that group was Marcel Wust (MX Onda).

The field split into three groups with 20 kilometers to go, melding into two groups for the final surge.

In the final sprint, Minali took off with a couple of hundred meters to go. Lombardi simply didn't attack soon enough to catch him.