Second Tour win for Cavendish as Beltran goes home

The Tour de France focus switched back to cycling yesterday when Briton Mark Cavendish's win in the rain-swept eighth stage overshadowed Manuel Beltran's positive drugs test the previous day.

Cavendish, who also captured the fifth stage on Wednesday for Team Columbia, won the 172.5-kms ride from Figeac to Toulouse, beating team-mate Gerald Ciolek of Germany in a mass sprint. France's Jimmy Casper took third place for Agritubel.

The result underlined Team Columbia's domination on the Tour with Luxembourg's Kim Kirchen retaining the overall leader's yellow jersey in an unchanged top 10.

On Friday, the Tour suffered its first doping episode, with Liquigas rider Beltran of Spain testing positive for the blood-boosting erythropoietin (EPO).

Beltran was kicked out of the race and will be fired by the Italian outfit if his B-sample returns positive.