Cycling: Peters wins Tour eighth stage as fellow Frenchman Pinot slumps

Cycling - Tour de France - Stage 8 - Cazeres-sur-Garonne to Loudenvielle - France - September 5, 2020. AG2r La Mondiale rider Nans Peters of France wins the stage. Pool via REUTERS/Stuart Franklin

Cycling - Tour de France - Stage 8 - Cazeres-sur-Garonne to Loudenvielle - France - September 5, 2020. AG2r La Mondiale rider Nans Peters of France wins the stage. Pool via REUTERS/Stuart Franklin

LOUDENVIELLE, France, September 5 (Reuters): Nans Peters won the eighth stage of the Tour de France, a 141-km mountainous trek from Cazeres-sur-Garonne on Saturday as fellow Frenchman Thibaut Pinot effectively lost all hope of becoming the first local winner of the race since 1985.

Pinot was dropped on the second ascent on a day that also saw Dutchman Tom Dumoulin crack, while defending champion Egan Bernal struggled.

Briton Adam Yates hung on to the overall leader's yellow jersey, managing to cross the line with the main contenders despite being dropped several times on the ascent of the Col de Peyresourde.

He leads pre-race favourite Primoz Roglic, who looked in control throughout, by three seconds and France's Guillaume Martin by nine.

Roglic's fellow Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, who had lost time on a stage fraught with crosswinds on Friday, was the most successful attacker of the day, regaining 40 seconds to move up to ninth place overall, 48 seconds off the pace.