Caisse for celebration

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Rui Da Costa led home a Caisse d'Epargne one-two on stage eight of the Tour de Suisse, with teammate Jose Joaquin Rojas in second and HTC-Columbia's Maxime Monfort in third. Robert Gesink (Rabobank) kept his grip on the yellow jersey.

Da Costa broke away in the final kilometres of an exhilarating stage that saw a dangerous break threaten Gesink's advantage.

"We both worked together really well," Da Costa told reporters at the finish. "In the end that helped me to the victory. The Tour de Suisse is a great event and getting a stage victory is nice. It was a hard day today but now our minds turn to the Tour de France."

The stage start in Wetzikon was overshadowed by the news that Kim Kirchen (Katusha) was rushed to hospital last night, having suffered a suspected heart attack and it took a while before the bunch sprung into action. Ahead of them was what looked liked a relatively predictable 172.km of racing, comprising of three third category climbs and an undulating finishing circuit.

With around 30 kilometres completed the day's break took shape, comprised of Tom Danielson (Garmin-Transitions), Alessandro Vanotti (Liquigas-Doimo), Maxime Monfort (HTC-Columbia), Rui Da Costa and Jose Joaquin Rojas (Caisse d'Epargne), Gregory Rast (RadioShack), Sandy Casar (Française Des Jeux), Lars Petter Nordhaug (Team Sky) and Gerald Ciolek (Milram).

With Monfort sitting just over five minutes down on Gesink the Belgian national time trial champion was a clear threat and Monfort was one of the group’s main instigators, often on the front as he took the fight to Rabobank.

Behind, the Dutch squad was forced to chase, burning matches in the early part of the stage. The gap never went over two minutes, though, and by the start of the next climb with 50 kilometres to go it was Monfort who again grabbed the initiative, impulsively attacking as his breakaway companions began to struggle.

The first to blow was Ciolek. Not a strong climber and not in the best of form, the German quickly lost ground on the difficult terrain. Monfort’s move sparked the bunch into life and Cervélo TestTeam briefly helped Rabobank, who were by now down to the bare bones.

The opposition smelt blood and with a cunning smile across his face Jakob Fuglsang (Team Saxo Bank) attacked - another Rabobank rider was sacrificed to negate the Dane's move.

Up ahead there were various attacks, chases and dropped riders. Casar, a rider who initially struggled as much as Ciolek, came back to the leaders and briefly led but with two Caisse riders in good form the numbers were stacked in their favour.

Monfort, meanwhile, continued to almost race his own race, calculating the gap he needed to challenge Gesink in tomorrow’s time trial. With 30 kilometres to go anything looked possible as the gap began to stretch to over three minutes.

A brief counter attack from Voigt and a handful of riders had Gesink scrambling for help, Garate and Mollema forced to share their leader’s burden as more teams began to heap pressure on the Rabobank star.

As the leaders reached the final 10 kilometres Rojas and Da Costa turned the screw, attacking in tandem each time a rider dared to challenge their supremacy. Eventually, though, Da Costa forced a gap and with Casar blowing for a second time, Danielson long gone, Nordhaug and Vanotti put out of their misery and Monfort almost spent, the Portuguese rider was able to build up a small lead on the final climb.

Monfort held the gap at 12 seconds but with Rojas, a fine sprinter in his own right on his wheel, the writing was on the wall.

Meanwhile, Mollema took charge of the chase nullifying attacks from Schleck and Rodriguez, to spare Gesink’s blushes and put his leader in a strong position ahead of tomorrow’s time trial.