Tour de France 2019: Julian Alaphilippe regains yellow jersey as Geraint Thomas survives late crash
The Tour returns to the hills for a tough, undulating stage
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Your support makes all the difference.Thomas De Gendt soloed to victory on stage eight of the Tour de France in Saint Etienne as Julian Alaphilippe regained the yellow jersey and Geraint Thomas survived a dramatic crash which snapped a team-mate's bike in half.
Lotto-Soudal's Thomas De Gendt was the last survivor of a four-man breakaway on the 230km stage from Macon, and had the power to hold off a late attack from Deceuninck-Quick Step's Alaphilippe and Thibaut Pinot of Groupama-FDJ.
Late in the stage the Team Ineos train was derailed in frightening fashion on a downhill bend, though Thomas was quickly back on his way and caught the peloton on the last of the day's seven categorised climbs. Re-live the live action:
Click on stage 8 to refresh the live tracker
Then again, it is the kind of stage which could offer someone like Julian Alaphilippe or Greg van Avermaet the platform to surge away from the main group in the final 10km, just as Alaphilippe did on stage 3 so impressively. He will be motivated to try and regain the yellow jersey from Giulpo Ciccone, if the opportunity arises.
There are bonus seconds available – eight, five and two – for the first three riders to reach the final summit of the day, and that could also tempt some of the lead riders towards the front late in the day. But realistically for GC contenders like Geraint Thomas, this is the kind of tough day to simply get through with as little fuss as possible.
Contenders
Peter Sagan – If he is in contention in the final few kilometres, he almost certainly wins this kind of stage. ****
Julian Alaphilippe – It is hard to know how much stage six took out of him as he fought and to keep the yellow jersey, but he will be extra motivated to regain it today if the chance comes his way. ***
Greg van Avermaet – Always dangerous on a stage like this one which requires strategy, strength and speed in the finish. **
Wout van Aert – He has impressed so far during this Tour but would love to grab a stage to really leave his mark on the race. *
Thomas De Gendt – He has looked lively in the breakaway over the past few days. *
Hello and welcome along to live coverage from stage 8 of the Tour de France! The stage has just got under way and we'll bring you all the latest from the early shenanigans, but first up here's a look at the day ahead.
Stage eight map from Macon to St Etienne
Stage eight profile
So it has been a surprisingly quiet start to this stage. The battle to be in the break was not as fierce as we expected, and four riders have been allowed to escape up the road unopposed. They are Niki Terpstra (Total Direct Energie), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) [of course!], Alessandro Di Marchi (CCC) and Ben King (Dimension Data).
The breakaway has made some swift progress as the peloton takes it easy, and they've built up a lead of five minutes already. This is a serious quartet, by the way – four riders with engines to go all the way to the end at a high pace on what is a brutally tough stage. It will be fascinating to watch how the main bunch deals with reeling them back in.
A very early intermediate sprint today, brought forward before the day's seven climbs begin. After the four breakawayers went through with a great lack of interest, the sprinters had a tussle for the remaining points on offer. Elia Viviani went through first, ahead of Peter Sagan and Sonny Colbrelli. Sagan wears green today and still holds a significant lead over the rest in the points classification, despite Viviani's efforts there. Here's the latest standings for all four jerseys:
155km to go: This strong breakaway group of Niki Terpstra (Total Direct Energie), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Alessandro Di Marchi (CCC) and Ben King (Dimension Data) are beginning the first climb of the day's seven. It's a category two climb of 6.1km at an average gradient of 7%, so it's no pushover.
What is it really like to ride the Tour de France? We asked Mark Cavendish, Geraint Thomas, Fabian Cancellara and more that question, and got some fascinating replies:
The breakaway have crested the first climb of the day – one down, six to go. Their gap from the main bunch is just under four minutes, so it looks like the peloton have decided to up their pace a little to keep this break under control. Worth repeating just how strong this experienced leading quartet is. Niki Terpstra has Monument wins on his CV, Alessandro Di Marchi has won three individual Giro d'Italia stages, Ben King has two Vuelta stages on his resume and Thomas De Gendt has won stages at all three Grand Tours.
A nice little graphic here monitoring the breakaway's lead, which shows that it has been stabilised for now. They are around 4min 10sec clear at the moment as they approach the second summit of the day, and they are working well together.
A reminder of what went on yesterday. Let's be honest, it was eye-gougingly boring for the majority of the day, but the sprint finish was good fun, where Dylan Groenewegen made up for a frustrating opening few days with victory – Jumbo-Visma's third of this Tour so far following Mike Teunissen's win on stage one and their success on the team time-trial.
115km to go: That gap between breakaway and the rest is down to 3min 30sec. Richie Porte, speaking before the stage, says the tactics are tricky today for his Trek Segafredo team because they have the yellow jersey to defend. They way things are shaping up, just about any outcome is possible today: a breakaway winner, a puncheur like Julian Alaphilippe escaping from the bunch, a bunch sprint with Peter Sagan at the fore, or even one of the GC riders taking a stand. We'll find out. These kind of stages are always the most fun, I find.
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