new coup from Tadej Pogacar, who recovers the yellow jersey

After a few days of lull in the weather, the peloton returned to rain and slippery asphalt on Saturday July 3 during the eighth stage of the Tour de France, between Oyonnax (Ain) and Le Grand-Bornand (Haute -Savoy). His first test in the mountains since leaving Brest on June 26 also almost came to an end: a Cochonou truck got stuck in the middle of the road leading to Mont-Saxonnex (1^re category) – antepenultimate difficulty of the day -, the top of which is located 46 km from the finish.

Fortunately, the situation quickly returned to order, because the stakes for this Saturday were double: we knew that it would be difficult for the Dutchman Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) to keep the yellow jersey for an extra day, and that the race of the day would therefore not be reduced to a stage victory.

If the Belgian Dylan Teuns (Bahrain Victorious) won in the Aravis, we will especially remember from this eighth stage the new show of force of Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates), who recovers the lead of the general classification, relegating his runner-up, the Belgian Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), at 1 min 48 s.

“A crazy step”

The Slovenian, winner of the 2020 edition, taking advantage of the incredible work of his teammate Davide Formolo, launches an attack 5 km from the top of the Col de Romme (1^re category), 32 km from the finish. Only Richard Carapaz (Ineos-Grenadiers) manages to follow him… Before another acceleration of “Tamau Pogi”. During his passage at the top of Romme, the Ecuadorian accused a disbursement of 1 min 7 s. He will finish 13^e, at 4 min 9 s.

“After yesterday’s stage [250 km entre Vierzon et Le Creusot], we saw that everyone was running against us. Today, I wanted to create gaps, so I took the opportunity to win: attack is the best defense ”, will then explain Tadej Pogacar in a press conference.

We feared that this solitary effort in the mountains, more than 30 km from the finish, would be hard to keep up. Nay! Tadej Pogacar gradually swallowed the runners who had escaped after the hill of Menthonnex-en-Bornes (4^e category), with insolent ease, climbing the col de la Colombière (1^re category) without even wincing. The Slovenian could have taken the stage off, but he finally eased off and finished fourth, 48 seconds behind Dylan Teuns. The group of pursuers is 2 min 33 s behind.

Among them, the Frenchman Aurélien Paret-Peintre (AG2R-Citroën), 7^e at 3:03, will summarize: “Eighty kilometers to get out [en échappée], yet there were clusters but always a team that came back (…). The Romme-Colombière sequence was really hard. When I see Pogacar who caught up with me quite early and the gaps there are, I think it’s a crazy step. “

The hopes of Roglic and Thomas buried

In a Grande Boucle where the twists and turns were almost as numerous as the crashes, however, caution was in order: there was no question of underestimating a potential rival. Wout van Aert paid the price.

This first alpine stage also finished burying the hopes of two of the announced favorites. The Welshman Geraint Thomas (Ineos-Grenadiers), relegated from the first third of the race to more than 4 minutes from the leading group, will not win his second Tour de France. Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) will not take revenge on Tadej Pogacar. Losing contact with the peloton at kilometer 30, he was able to benefit from the support of several riders – including the Dutchman Dylan van Baarle (Ineos-Grenadiers), who verbally encouraged him. The dolphin of the 2020 edition will hold a time with them. Then will be left behind again …

Seeing him raise his arms in yellow on July 18 on the Champs-Elysées in Paris is now a pipe dream. On the other hand, the possibility that he will abandon the Big Loop to focus on the Tokyo Olympics, which start on July 23, seems very real. Geraint Thomas and Primoz Roglic finally crossed the finish line at Le Grand-Bornand 35 minutes late – less than three minutes from the deadline.

On the Sunday program: Act II of the Alps, with 145 kilometers between Cluses (Haute-Savoie) and the finish in Tignes (Savoie), at an altitude of over 2,000 m. The players in the peloton may repeat over and over that the Grande-Boucle is only played once in Paris, it is difficult to imagine, this Saturday, which could come to upset the insolent domination of Tadej Pogacar. Among the other contenders for the general, the Colombian Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) is at 4:46, Richard Carapaz (Ineos-Grenadiers) at 5:01, and Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 5:13 .

“There is still a long way to go, anything can happen. I’m very confident but I certainly didn’t kill the Tour today, sorry… ”, promised Tadej Pogacar after his new coup on Saturday. Dylan Teuns, the winner of the day, is less categorical: “Paris is still far away and we know how hard it is to get there, but you can clearly see the state of form in which it is. Everyone will fight until the last day, but I think Tadej can defend his jersey until the end. ”