Second win for Cavendish as Beltran goes home

TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) - The Tour de France focus switched back to cycling on Saturday 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 presence on the Tour with Luxembourg's Kim Kirchen retaining the overall leader's yellow jersey in an unchanged top 10 and Swede Thomas Lovkvist still wearing the white jersey for the best young rider.

"It was really fast and I had a bad place in the peloton," said Cavendish, who comes from the Isle of Man.

"I had to go quite early so I gathered speed and went on until the line. It's a sensational finish especially as Gerald took second place. We now are the best team on this Tour."

Spaniard Oscar Freire of the Rabobank team took the green jersey for the best sprinter after finishing fourth in Toulouse.

POSITIVE TEST

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

A former domestique of seven-times winner Lance Armstrong, Beltran was kicked out of the race and will be fired by the Italian outfit if his B-sample returns positive.

However, the Tour caravan pressed on as normal on Saturday morning, just as Beltran was at the airport on his way back home.

France's Laurent Lefevre launched an attack 140 kms out and was soon joined by compatriots Christophe Riblon and Jerome Pineau as well as Spaniard Amets Txurruka.

The quartet battled heavy rain to open a five minute 20 second advantage before the Credit Agricole team led the pursuit.

Liquigas, looking for consolation after Beltran's embarrassing exit, also stepped up a gear with 40 kms to go and caught Riblon and Lefevre.

Txurruka and Pineau resisted until four kms from home when they were swallowed by a peloton smelling the blood of a mass sprint.

Casper was the first to burst out of the pack but he could not match Cavendish's raw power in the last 100 meters.

Riccardo Ricco, who won the sixth stage in Super-Besse, was caught up in a crash with 51 kms to go.

The Italian had to dig deep to get back into the main pack with the help of three aides. He called the medical car a few kms further on but managed to cross the line with the rest.

The Giro d'Italia runner-up is suffering from knee pains but there is nothing serious, organizers said.

(Editing by Dave Thompson)