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GERARDMER, France -- In a solo breakaway, Blel Kadri gave France its first stage winner at the Tour de France in the entree to the Vosges mountains on Saturday. Jacob McQuaide Jersey . Meanwhile, Vincent Nibali extended his lead over his biggest rivals except an important one: Two-time champion Alberto Contador. Over two minutes back, an attacking Contador duelled with Nibali to capture second place at the uphill finish of a rainy 161-kilometre (100-mile) ride from Tomblaine to Gerardmer La Mauselaine ski resort. Contador gained only seconds on Nibali, and was still 2 1/2 minutes behind him, but the threat was loud and clear. The overall standings changed after Stage 8, with mostly strong climbers at the top. Kadri, sensing his looming victory in the last kilometre, clasped hands in joy with a staffer of his AG2R Mondiale team, who was alongside him in a team car. He kissed his fingers to the crowd and smiled broadly at the line. "Today was my day, and Im really, really, really happy," he said after his maiden Tour stage win. "We work all year for good performances in this race. ... Today it paid off." Kadri emerged from a five-man breakaway that chiselled out a lead of as many as 11 minutes. None of the breakaway riders threatened Nibalis yellow jersey: The highest-placed among them started the stage nearly 26 1/2 minutes back. Contador attacked as he and Nibali passed under the red flag marking one kilometre to go. But the Italian couldnt be shaken -- hewing right on the Spaniards back wheel except for Contadors final surge at the line. "Im not explosive, but I held my own," Nibali said. "I tried to respond as best I could to his attack ... he moved a lot, I really wanted to stick close to him ... in the last 100 metres he accelerated a lot." The ride featured three mid-grade climbs in the first of three days in the mid-sized Vosges range near the German border. 90. Christian Meier of Langley, B.C., was 90th, finishing in a peloton that clocked in at 4:7:19. Svein Tuft, also from Langley, was in the same group, finishing the stage 110th. Meier is 143rd in the overall standings, while Tuft is 146th. American Andrew Talansky had trouble and lost time in the title chase to other contenders. In the final ascent, he skidded off the wet road and fumbled -- with help from a fan -- to repair what seemed to be a problem with his bike. A race medical report said he had multiple contusions. Talansky, the Garmin-Sharp team leader, finished more than two minutes behind Nibali and Contador, and trailed the leader by 4 minutes, 22 seconds in 16th place overall. He started the ride in eighth, 2:05 down. Overall, Nibali led Astana teammate Jakob Fuglsang of Denmark in second by 1 minute, 44 seconds. Australias Richie Porte of Team Sky, who finished fourth on Saturday, was 1:58 back in third. Spains Alejandro Valverde was fifth, 2:27 adrift, and Contador was sixth, 2:34 behind. The breakaway five chiselled out their maximum lead with about 50 kilometres (30 miles) left, and the pack began to accelerate. With around 25 kilometres left, the lead dwindled to 4 1/2 minutes. Frances Sylvain Chavanel pressed the pace among the five in front, then Kadri overtook him, pedalling alone up the final climb. There were fewer crashes than in recent days. Before the stage, Swiss rider Mathias Frank, the leader of the IAM Cycling team, withdraw because of broken left femur in a crash on Friday. Frank, who was runner-up in the Tour de Suisse last month, underwent surgery in Geneva on Saturday. The toughest ride in the Vosges will come on Monday when cyclists face seven ascents, including an uphill finish to the storied ski resort La Planche des Belles Filles. The pack faces six ascents on Sunday with a 170-kilometre (106-mile) ride from Gerardmer to Mulhouse. Cory Littleton Jersey .40 metres at the Drake Relays. Drouin, from Corunna, Ont., bested his own record of 2.38 metres set in Aug. Tyrunn Walker Jersey . Granada defender Diego Mainz barged into the back of Villa to send the Spain striker to the ground inside the area and Costa stepped up to the spot to score his 12th league goal in the 38th minute. Costa showed no effects of the news that his Brazilian citizenship may be revoked after he elected to play for Spains national team, as the forward was a constant threat for Atletico and forced several saves from goalkeeper Roberto. http://www.laramsfansshop.com/c-46-rams-mark-barron-jersey.aspx . He liked what he saw on Tuesday night. Not only did his team post a comeback 3-2 victory in a shootout over the Montreal Canadiens, but the rival Washington Capitals were beaten 5-1 in Buffalo.Would I dare say thumbs down to Sidney Crosby? No, not when there always seems to be a way to say thumbs up, and that can be done following his dandy pass to Christian Ehrhoff for Saturdays game winning goal against Ottawa. Ehrhoff had time to thank Crosby with a short speech before he rifled a shot past Craig Anderson. But heres the thing: Crosby is without a goal of his own in his last six games and he has scored only twice in the past 18 games. Were hearing some of the same whispers that accompanied his performance in last seasons playoffs, when he scored just once in 13 games. They dont say somethings wrong as much as they wonder whats not right, because its not right for Crosby to be in a scoring slump. For now, well chalk it up to his missing linemates: Chris Kunitz and pick one of Patric Hornqvist or Pascal Dupuis. But eventually, no matter who lines up with him, Crosby will have to start scoring goals or the whispers will get louder. Thumbs down to my inability to understand why a team that can score power play goals at home has such difficullty doing so on the road. Aaron Donald Jersey. Even more puzzling is when the opposite is true, so lets start there. The Nashville Predators took a league-worst home-ice power play percentage of 2.3 into last nights game against Chicago. That number was based on one power play goal in 43 opportunities. Against the Hawks, the Preds had one chance, didn’t score and the home-ice power play number didn’t change. On the road, Nashville has a pretty good power play: 8 for 34 or 23.5 per cent. More understandable, I guess, is the team that scores with a man advantage at home, but not away from home. I give you the Minnesota Wild ... 20 per cent at home, 2.4 per cent on the road. Like Nashville at home, the Wild has one lonely power play goal in an enemy rink. Naturally, this made me wonder what happens when they play each other. Sadly, that hasnt happened yet this season. The first meeting is Saturday, Dec. 20 at Minnesota. Strength vs. strength, if you will. Oh, but one more thing: Minnesota is the NHLs best penalty-killing team….at home. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '