Michael Rasmussen took the overall leader's yellow jersey with a commanding victory in the eighth stage of the Tour de France on Sunday.
Rasmussen, winner of the polka-dot climbers' jersey in the last two Tours, beat Spaniard Iban Mayo of the Saunier-Duval team on the arduous 165-km stage from Le Grand-Bornand to Tignes.
Mayo finished two minutes and 47 seconds behind the Rabobank rider with fellow Spaniard Alejandro Valverde taking third place for the Caisse d'Epargne team 3:12 off the pace.
Pre-race favourite Alexander Vinokourov of the Astana team ended the stage 4:29 behind Rasmussen after suffering on the last ascent of the day.
The Kazakh was beaten by a group of top contenders including Australian Cadel Evans, Luxemburg's Frank Schleck and Frenchman Christophe Moreau, who attacked eight times on the climb to Tignes.
Vinokourov, 22nd overall 5:23 behind Rasmussen, was unable to respond to Moreau's offensive and limited the damage thanks to super-domestique Andreas Kloeden, who helped him over the last three km of the final climb.  Both riders sustained injuries in separate crashes on Thursday and Kloeden is now 13th overall 3:46 behind Rasmussen.