Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) held off most of his main rivals for the yellow jersey on stage 8 of the Tour de France (open in new tab), despite being put on the back foot several times on the final climb of the Peyresourde pass.

Bernal was among an elite group of GC contenders, including Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma), Mikel Landa (Bahrain McLaren), Nairo Quintana (Alcare Samsic), and Adam Yates (Mitchelton Scott), the yellow jersey Finish.

Only Tadey Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) were able to catch Bernal.

The Slovenian attacked several times in Peyresourde and was 40 seconds ahead of his rivals.

Bernal, the defending Tour de France champion, is in fifth place overall, 13 seconds behind Yates in the yellow jersey after the first of two stages in the Pyrenees.

"The last two climbs were really, really fast," Bernal said after putting on the white jersey of the best young rider.

"If you look at the numbers, our run on the climbs was impressive. If you look at my performance, I should be satisfied.

"This is the biggest race in the world and it's not easy to win. So I'm happy to have arrived in the first group with them and not lose time to Roglic and the other GC riders."

"It's the biggest race in the world, so it's not easy to win.

Bernal, however, was far from in great shape on the climbs, although there are signs that he is steadily improving. He was unable to match the powerful acceleration of Roglic, Quintana, and Pogachar, but like several others, he slowly made his way back to the attack.

Bernal also seemed to have opened a small gap on his rivals at one point at the top of the final climb.

"It was tough, really, really tough," he replied when asked about Roglic's attack.

"Especially on the first part of the last climb, Tom Dumoulin was running a really hard pace. I knew I couldn't go at that pace until the finals, and I was looking at the numbers, but I took care of it myself."

"I was very happy with the pace," he said.

What helped Bernal in the finale was his experience in setting his own tempo. He contributed to the chase at several points, but never went too far into the red.

"I couldn't keep up with them when they attacked me, but I knew it was impossible to make that effort until the finish of the climb, so I did what was best for me and did a good job. I should be happy, because I did the best I could and I did a great job. They were really strong and it was a really good race to watch on TV."

Bernal was helped on the final climb by teammate Richard Carapas, but the 2019 Giro d'Italia winner was unable to keep up with the leading riders in the final few kilometers of the final climb, ultimately finishing 38 seconds behind the team leader.