Ireland's Eddie Dunbar - and his team mates - were up the road today. But it was Swiss rider Gino Mader who took a solo victory.
Eddie Dunbar climbs with very best at Tour de l'Avenir
Eddie Dunbar has taken another very strong result on a day when all of the Irish team went on the attack at the Tour de l'Avenir.
Dunbar kept his powder dry until late in the stage but earlier his team mates were all in attacking groups.
Matt Teggart, Michael O'Loughlin, Daire Feeley, Darragh O'Mahony and Mark Downey all spent time off the front in moves that were brought back.
Dunbar would try later but was recaptured as he is one of the dangermen for the general classification.
The battle for stage victory really intensified in the final 10km on the 81km road from La Bathie to Crest-Voland Cohennoz.
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There were two climbs to contest on today's short stage 8. The first of those two was the 21.5km Col de Saisies cat 1 crested at 66.6km.
And after the descent off that mountain came a 2.2km climb up to the finish line.
And while there was plenty of aggression on, and before, the main climb of the day; the key action unfolded after it.
The sprint for 2nd place from the group Dunbar was in (Photo: Audrey Duval)
Eventual stage winner Gino Mader (Switzerland) took flight on the descent of the Col de Saisies, going solo with just over 10km remaining.
He put in an impressive descent to pull out a gap and was strong enough to hold it to the finish.
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His advantage came down a little on the finishing climb. But he still had 15 seconds on a group of 20 sprinting for 2nd place.
It was yesterday's stage winner, Ivan Ramiro Sosa (20) of Colombia, who took that runner-up spot. Robert Stannard of Australia was 3rd.
Dunbar finished in the group fighting it out for 2nd place; coming over the line in 10th and retaining his 6th place overall.
With about 20km to go, Dunbar had pulled out a gap of about 25 seconds with Cristian Camilo Muñoz (Colombia) and Stephen Williams (Great Britain).
Williams, who recently signed for Bahrain-Merida, was distanced leaving Dunbar up front with the Colombian.
However, they were soon caught by the 25-man chasing group after about 5km up the road.
? Best-of ?
Découvrez les meilleurs moments de la 8ème étape et la première victoire suisse sur ce tour de l’Avenir ! ????#tourdelavenir ??♂️ pic.twitter.com/mPDPLCwMnN
— Tour de l'Avenir (@tourdelavenir) August 24, 2018
While the stage winner moved up five place overall to 4th, there were no other major changes.
It means Eddie Dunbar remains in 6th, some 31 seconds down on Tadej Pogacar from Slovenia.
The other Irish riders finished further down the field today. However, with Dunbar climbing with the top riders and his team mates trying to get up the road early in the stage, it was a strong team performance.
There are two stages remaining, both of which are very hilly. Tomorrow's 89km stage 9 finishes at the summit of the cat 1 Val d'Isère.
And on Sunday the race concludes atop the Col du Glandon after cresting the HC Col du Chaussy.
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