SAINT-GIRONS: Seven-time champion Lance Armstrong remains in third place in the Tour de France, after Spain’s Luis Leon Sanchez won the eighth stage on Saturday.

Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy earned the yellow jersey for the second straight day by finishing in a pack with Armstrong and his Astana teammate Alberto Contador. The 2007 Tour winner is six seconds back, with Armstrong eight seconds back. Levi Leipheimer is 39sec off the pace in fourth.

Sanchez crossed the line just ahead of France’s Sandy Casar and Mikel Astarloza of Spain. They clocked 4 hours, 31 min, 50 sec for the 110-mile trek along three big climbs from the Pyrenean principality of Andorra to Saint-Girons. Vladimir Efimkin finished the stage in fourth, while the main pack trailed 1:54 behind.