Tour de France: victory for Wout van Aert in Lausanne on the 8th stage


Belgian Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) won the 8th stage of the Tour de France in the sprint on Saturday in Lausanne, his second success since the start. The Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE), third in the stage, consolidated his yellow jersey as leader at the end of this day marked by the first cases of Covid-19 in the peloton and the departure of the two positive riders (Laengen, Bouchard) .

In the sprint, van Aert, locked up for a moment, finally found the opening and outstripped the Australian Michael Matthews, already second Thursday at Longwy. Pogacar, who competed in the sprint, pocketed four bonus seconds and increased his lead over Dane Jonas Vingegaard, second in the standings, to 39 seconds.

Big fall after 9km of running

In this 186.3km stage, a maxi-fall knocked down or delayed many riders, 9km after the start in Dole. The peloton, on the initiative of the UAE team, slowed down to allow the latecomers to return. The American Kevin Vermaerke, one of the youngest in the peloton (21 years old) at the origin of the fall, had to give up.

Up front, the breakaway of a trio formed by the Belgian Frederik Frison, the Italian Mattia Cattaneo and the Briton Fred Wright, obtained a good exit until three and a half minutes. But the teams of Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Michael Matthews (BikeExchange) controlled the gap, varying between one and two minutes.

The misfortunes of Pinot

For his part, the French Thibaut Pinot has accumulated setbacks. Victim of a fall without apparent gravity in a climb, he was hit in the face a few moments later by the haversack held out by a team assistant. Wright, the last to resist, held on until 3.5km from the line. He was overwhelmed by the vanguard of the peloton led most often, on the last climb (4.8km at 4.6%) by Pogacar’s teammates.

Wearer of the green jersey, van Aert won his eighth success in the Tour, tied with Pogacar. The Belgian now has 37 victories to his name. On Sunday, the 9th stage will connect Aigle, headquarters of the International Cycling Union in Switzerland, to the French resort of Châtel, for entry into the Alps.





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