A brief look at Sunday’s eighth stage of the 99th Tour de France:

Stage: The 97.9 mile middle mountain trek featuring seven categorized climbs that took riders to Switzerland. The stage included the Col de la Croix, a 2.3-mile climb with gradients as steep as 17 percent 10 miles before the finish.

Winner: Thibaut Pinot of France. The FDJ-BigMat rider gave France its first victory in the Tour this year, breaking away from the pack during the final climb. Pinot then resisted the peloton chase in the last 10 kilometers. Evans was second, 26 seconds behind. Tony Gallopin of France was third, and Bradley Wiggins of Britain was fourth in a small group that included most of the remaining pre-race favorites.

Yellow Jersey: Wiggins retained the race leader’s jersey. He maintained his lead over defending Tour champion Cadel Evans of Australia, who trails 10 seconds behind. Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali is third, 16 seconds back.

Horner watch: Bend’s Chris Horner finished in 11th place on Sunday for team RadioShack-Nissan. Horner is in 14th place overall.

Stat of the Day: 22, Pinot’s age. The Frenchman is the youngest rider in the Tour peloton this year.

Today’s ninth stage: A 25.7-mile time trial between Arc-et-Senans and Besancon. The route is mainly flat and looks tailor-made for Wiggins, who is expected to extend his lead over Evans after thrashing the Australian rival in the race against the clock at the Criterium du Dauphine last month.

For a related story, see D5.

— The Associated Press