Tour de France 2019: Julian Alaphilippe regains yellow jersey as Geraint Thomas survives late crash
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:
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.
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.
105km to go: Great stuff, this, as Thomas De Gendt dishes out an admonishing to fellow attacker Ben King for not working hard enough. This is classic De Gendt, a master of directing a breakaway like this one as if he really wants them all to have a great day out together before mugging them in broad daylight at some point later in the stage.
100km to go: The break are being caught here, and De Gendt is getting worried. He's flapping around trying to cajole his fellow breakers into working harder to preserve their advantage of about three minutes from the main bunch. To my mind no sporting event is quite as photogenic as the Tour de France, and here's a few of this breakaway in action:
Tejay van Garderen became the third rider of this Tour de France to abandon the race after a nasty crash yesterday which left abrasions on his face and down the left side of his body. He completed stage 7 with a broken thumb and was declared by the doctors unfit to continue racing. The American's team revealed the news this morning in a tweet...
Here's Geraint Thomas, speaking before the stage: "The plan is to try and be in the front. Especially today there's small twisty roods, so it's the best place to be. It's gonna be hot and hard, so keep eating and drink, the small things. Basically it's about conserving as much as possible until the time-trial, and not making a mistake which can you cost you."
On his potential rivals: "Julian Alaphilippe has been incredible, Thibaut Pinot has been really good too. They're the two who stand out."
70km to go: It's all action at the front, all of a sudden! Thomas De Gendt gets his kick on and only Alessandro De Marchi can keep pace. Niki Terpstra and Ben King have slipped away.
Meanwhile back in the peloton, which is around 3min 50sec from De Gendt and De Marchi at the front of the race, plenty of riders are falling off the pace on the second category climb the Cote de la Croix. Team Ineos have positioned themselves comfortably near the front.
Here's Thibaut Pinot, speaking before the stage: "I think if there's an attack, I'm expecting Julian Alaphilippe to get the yellow jersey back. This could potentially be harder than La Planche [stage six]. My goal is to come to every day and be in a good position. Sometimes the best form of defence is attack. I'm not thinking about the yellow jersey, just about my own race. I know the type of profile that suits me, I'm waiting for the Pyrenees. I don't know many GC leaders able to follow him so we'll have to be very careful when he attacks."
35km to go: So we are getting towards the business end of this long and brutal stage. Di Marchi briefly got stuck on the descent as he went straight instead of turning, stopping just before hitting a wall, but he's back now with De Gendt and those two lead the race, around two minutes ahead of the yellow-jersey group, who have swallowed up the rest of the breakaway.
15km to go: A crash! It's a couple of Team Ineos riders who wipe each other out and Geraint Thomas is briefly held up. They seem to back and OK, but they are disengaged from the yellow jersey group for now. The attacking duo's lead has been reduced severely, down to only one minute – and De Gendt attacks off the front!
12km to go: So the state of play right now is this: Thomas De Gendt, the madman, has gone powering on a solo mission off the front as he aims to win the stage. Behind him, Julian Alaphilippe attacks from the GC pack! He crests the final climb and sweeps up six bonus seconds, and only Thibaut Pinot can follow him. Geraint Thomas is not there, left behind a little by that Ineos incident a few minutes ago. Jakob Fuglsang is trying to keep up but is struggling, and a whole group of major contenders are trying to follow...
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. *
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