Toulouse, France (My Sportsbook) - Mark Cavendish of Britain captured Stage 8 of the Tour de France during a rain-soaked Saturday, while Luxembourg's Kim Kirchen finished among the main pack and retained the yellow jersey as the overall leader.

Cavendish completed the 172.5-kilometer trek in a time of four hours, two minutes and 53 seconds to capture his second Tour stage victory.

German Gerald Ciolek and a teammate of Cavendish's on Team Columbia finished second at 30 seconds behind. Jimmy Casper of France finished third, Oscar Freire Gomez of Spain placed fourth and Germany's Robert Forster was fifth -- all with the same time as Cavendish.

Kirchen, also a member of Team Columbia, placed 41st.

George Hincapie was the highest placed American in the main pack as he finished 44th overall. In total, 146 riders were 30 seconds behind the stage winner.

With 3.5 kilometers to go, Columbia and Quick Step were battling for the lead, but after the final corner with a little over one kilometer to go, Ciolek led out Cavendish for the win.

Stage 9 on Sunday will see the riders heading uphill as the 224-kilometer hike from Toulouse to Bagneres de Bigorre goes through the high passes of the Pyrenees Mountains.

On Friday, Spanish cyclist Manuel Beltran was taken out of the race for testing positive for blood booster erythropoietin (EPO). The 37-year-old Beltran, who was riding for the Italian team Liquigas, was then reportedly taken away by police from the team hotel.