Changes in stage 8 compared to stage 7 Biggest gainers by position : +39 Christophe Kern +28 Sebastien Joly +28 Olivier Kaisen +28 Kevin De Weert +28 Julien Loubet +27 Leonardo Duque +26 Francis Mourey +24 Cycril Lemoine +23 Jose Ruiz Sanchez +21 Patrice Halgand Biggest losers by position : -33 Dmitry Kozontchuk -32 Alessandro Ballan -28 Marc De Maar -26 Damiano Cunego -23 Ivan Rovny -22 Inigo Landaluze Intxaurraga -21 Paolo Tiralongo -20 Matti Breschel -13 Daniele Bennati -13 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni -13 Koldo Fernandez De Larrea Biggest gainers by time : +1:59 David Moncoutie +1:17 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte +1:13 Alberto Contador Velasco +1:05 Igor Anton Hernandez +1:00 Robert Gesink +1:00 Oliver Zaugg +1:00 Levi Leipheimer +1:00 Joaquin Rodriguez +1:00 Ezequiel Mosquera Miguez +1:00 David Arroyo Duran Biggest losers by time : -21:36 Alessandro Vanotti -21:36 Alexandre Pichot -21:36 Alexandre Usov -21:36 Andrea Tonti -21:36 Anthony Geslin -21:36 Arnaud Labbe -21:36 Artur Gajek -21:36 Assan Bazayev -21:36 Bart Dockx -21:36 Bingen Fernandez Bustinza -21:36 Christian Kux Favourites by position : +5 Robert Gesink +4 Andreas Kloden +3 Igor Anton Hernandez +3 Ezequiel Mosquera Miguez +2 Carlos Sastre Candil +2 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte +2 Alberto Contador Velasco +1 Marzio Bruseghin +1 Levi Leipheimer -2 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau -4 Yaroslav Popovych -9 Davide Rebellin -11 Stefan Schumacher -26 Damiano Cunego -32 Alessandro Ballan Favourites by time : +1:17 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte +1:13 Alberto Contador Velasco +1:05 Igor Anton Hernandez +1:00 Robert Gesink +1:00 Levi Leipheimer +1:00 Ezequiel Mosquera Miguez +1:00 Carlos Sastre Candil +0:16 Marzio Bruseghin -1:45 Andreas Kloden -6:30 Davide Rebellin -10:04 Yaroslav Popovych -10:04 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau -17:21 Damiano Cunego -17:21 Alessandro Ballan -21:36 Stefan Schumacher Top 3 and favourites standings : 1 Levi Leipheimer 28.20.03 2 Alberto Contador Velasco 0.21 3 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte 0.49 4 Carlos Sastre Candil 1.27 5 Ezequiel Mosquera Miguez 1.59 6 Igor Anton Hernandez 2.12 ..... 9 Robert Gesink 3.11 10 Marzio Bruseghin 3.35 ..... 19 Andreas Kloden 9.25 ..... 22 Davide Rebellin 10.24 ..... 33 Alessandro Ballan 17.21 ..... 50 Damiano Cunego 25.45 ..... 54 Yaroslav Popovych 27.15 55 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau 28.10 ..... 109 Stefan Schumacher 55.31 Retirements to date : Stage Stef Clement (Ned) Bouygues Telecom 7 Aurelien Clerc (Swi) Bouygues Telecom 5 Maryan Hary (Fra) Cofidis - Le Credit par Telephone 5 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis - Le Credit par Telephone 1 Jean-Marc Marino (Fra) Credit Agricole 8 <<< Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Quick Step 7 Volodymyr Diudia (Ukr) Team Milram 7 Ricardo Serrano Gonzalez (Spa) Tinkoff Credit Systems 4 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems 7 Total retirements : 9