Wout van Aert consolidated his lead in the points classification of the Tour de France with an impressive late burst of speed on Saturday to win the eighth stage of cycling’s biggest race, a hilly 186.3-km ride from Dole to Lausanne across the border in Switzerland.
The Belgian bagged his second stage win in this edition in a reduced bunch sprint at the top of the Cote du Stade Olympique, a 4.8-km effort at an average gradient of 4.6 per cent.
Green jersey holder Van Aert, who now has a 115-point lead in the points classification over Dutchman Fabio Jakobsen, beat Australian Michael Matthews after launching his sprint with 200 metres left.
Tadej Pogacar took third place to retain his overall leader's yellow jersey, picking up a four-second time bonus in the process.
Sunday's ninth stage is a 192.9-km mountainous trek from Aigle, Switzerland, to Chatel back in France.
Pogacar was involved in an early mass pile-up that brought two-time runner-up Nairo Quintana, two-time podium finisher Romain Bardet and fellow Frenchman David Gaudu, as well as 2018 champion Geraint Thomas, to the ground – or into a grassy ditch.
None of them appeared to have been injured.
A three-man breakaway featuring Mattia Cattaneo, Frederik Frison and Fred Wright built up a lead of around three minutes on the peloton but they were kept on a tight leash.
Australian Ben O'Connor, fourth overall last year, struggled throughout the day with hip pains following a crash in Wednesday's fifth stage. He received treatment from the race doctor and ground his way through the stage.
Wright, who had dropped Frison and Cattaneo, was finally caught with 3.5 kilometres remaining as Pogacar’s UAE Emirates team-mate Rafal Majka rode a hard tempo in front of a skimming peloton.
Pogacar took a chance in the final sprint but Van Aert had too much power for him, and the Jumbo-Visma rider claimed an eighth career win on the Tour in awe-inspiring fashion.
Earlier on Saturday, Geoffrey Bouchard and Vegard Stake Laengen became the riders to pull out of the race with Covid-19.
Shortly after Bouchard’s withdrawal, UAE Team Emirates said Norwegian Laengen, a team-mate of Pogacar, had tested positive.
“Vegard tested negative yesterday morning during the routine internal team testing protocol. But he reported sore throat symptoms late last night,” team doctor Adriano Rotunno said.
“The Covid-19 antigen test was positive, and the diagnosis was confirmed on a PCR test this morning. As per protocol, for his, the team, and the peloton’s safety he will be withdrawn from the race.”
Frenchman Bouchard, 30, won the mountains classification at the 2019 Vuelta a Espana and in last year’s Giro d’Italia.
“During the [seventh] stage [on Friday] I did not feel well. It’s a huge disappointment because we were just getting to my favourite terrain, the mountains,” AG2R-Citroen’s Bouchard said in a team statement.
AG2R-Citroen said that the rest of their squad, from whom Bouchard had been isolated, were negative for Covid-19.
