Mark Cavendish from Team Columbia won his second stage in the 2008 Tour de France in the bunch sprint on the wet streets of Toulouse on July 12.

The Briton's burst of speed in the final metres was enough to beat the other big-name sprinters at the end of the 172.5km stage that started in Figeac. Gerald Ciolek, riding behind Cavendish, made it a one-two for Columbia, ahead of Jimmy Casper and Oscar Freire.

“The escape came back at the right time and we polished it off with a perfect one-two finish,” Cavendish said after the end of the stage. “It’s one of the last days for the sprinters and when it comes to a bunch sprint at the end, I’m usually fast enough to be able to finish off the job," he added.

Rabobank's Freire, who wore the green jersey of the sprint leader instead of Kim Kirchen, who is also the overall leader, did just enough to make the jersey his own.

In the general classification, there were no changes in the top ten, with Kirchen retaining the yellow jersey and none of the main contenders suffering any mishaps on the wet roads of stage eight.

That could easily change on July 13, whe the Tour hits the Pyrenees with the 224km stage from Toulouse to Bagneres-de-Bigorre. The top 14 riders are now within two minutes of Kirchen, but those gaps are certain to increase as mountain climbers step to the forefront.

The ninth stage will start with four category-four climbs, followed by the category-three Col des Ares, before the peloton ventures into real mountains - the category-one Col de Peyresourde and Col d'Aspin. A long and exhausting stage will be followed by a 26km downhill ride to the finish line.

With so many king of the mountain points on offer, the main contenders for the climbers classification, including David de la Fuente who now wears the polka-dot jersey, will stretch the peloton and there could be more than one rider that is forced to abandon the Tour.

The Tour is now nine riders short of the number that started, including Manuel Beltran, who did not start stage eight after being banned from the race, having tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO), the hormone that induces red blood cell production.