Costa on the Caisse

Rui Costa led home a Caisse d'Epargne one-two on stage eight of the Tour de Suisse on Saturday.

Gesink maintains his lead on the GC

Rui Costa led home a Caisse d'Epargne one-two on stage eight of the Tour de Suisse on Saturday. The Portuguese rider powered clear of his breakaway companions on the undulating finishing circuit and crossed the line 15 seconds ahead of Spanish teammate José Joaquín Rojas. Maxime Monfort (HTC-Columbia) was a further four seconds back in third. The 172.4km stage from Wetzikon to Liestal was marked by a nine-man break which went clear after less than 30km and managed to hold off the peloton for the rest of the day. Indeed that group put Robert Gesink's overall lead under real pressure as Monfort, just over five minutes behind at the start of the day, took the gap over the three-minute mark at one point. Gesink's Rabobank team were forced to dig deep to keep their man in yellow but their efforts were rewarded as he came home in tenth, 1:16 back, to preserve his 29 seconds advantage over Rigoberto Urán (Caisse d'Epargne). He'll take that into Sunday's final stage which is a 26.9km time trial around Liestal. Stage eight result: 1 - Rui Costa - (POR) - Caisse d'Epargne - (4:10:32)
2 - José Joaquín Rojas - (ESP) - Caisse d'Epargne - (+15)
3 - Maxime Monfort - (BEL) - HTC-Columbia - (+19)
4 - Sandy Casar - (FRA) - Française des Jeux - (+34)
5 - Alessandro Vanotti - (ITA) - Liquigas - (+34)
6 - Lars Petter Nordhaug - (NOR) - Team Sky - (+34)
7 - Tom Danielson - (USA) - Garmin - (+39)
8 - Daniele Pietropolli - (ITA) - Lampre - (+1:14)
9 - Thor Hushovd - (NOR) - Cervélo - (+1:16)
10 - Robert Gesink - (NED) - Rabobank - (+1:16)
Overall standings: 1 - Robert Gesink - (NED) - Rabobank - (34:27:47)
2 - Rigoberto Urán - (COL) - Caisse d'Epargne - (+29)
3 - Steve Morabito - (SUI) - BMC Racing - (+36)
4 - Fränk Schleck - (LUX) - Saxo Bank - (+38)
5 - Joaquim Rodríguez - (ESP) - Katyusha - (+42)
6 - Matteo Carrara - (ITA) - Vacansoleil - (+54)
7 - Lance Armstrong - (USA) - RadioShack - (+55)
8 - Oliver Zaugg - (SUI) - Liquigas - (+1:01)
9 - Jakob Fuglsang - (DEN) - Saxo Bank - (+1:17)
10 - Thomas Löfkvist - (SWE) - Team Sky - (+1:38)