Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) won a second stage in the 2022 Tour de France with an uphill sprint finish in Stage 8 Lausanne and held off Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and prevented the defending champion from winning three stages in a row.
The GC contenders in the peloton wiped out a two-plus minute breakaway. As expected, van Aert outdueled Pogacar in a final sprint to secure his eighth career stage victory. Pogacar took third place, but added four seconds to his overall lead in the GC standings.
| 2022 TOUR DE FRANCE – STAGE 8 RESULTS |
- Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) 04:13:06
- Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco) +0:00
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +0:00
Australia’s Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco) finished in second place and missed a chance at another stage win after another impressive sprint from van Aert.
Stage 8: Dole > Lausanne
It wasn’t a lazy Saturday on Le Tour. Stage 8 brought the peloton to the Swiss Alps for a taste of the upcoming hardcore mountain stages. It began in Dole with a 186.3 km route to Lausanne, which is the home of the IOC. There were two Category 3 and two Category 4 climbs including a final ascent at Cote du Stade Olympique.
Pogacar survived an early crash when most of the peloton went down, but it did not affect his finish.
“Softest crash I ever had,” said Pogacar.
In the final kilometer home stretch, Van Aert in the green jersey was right behind Pogacar in the yellow jersey, but Matthews was also in striking distance.
“I hesitated a little bit and Van Aert passed me with super speed,” said Pogacar. “For sure it’s a little disappointing but third place is still great.”
“Van Aert is a freak,” said Matthews. “He was the man to beat on these punchy finishes and Tadej too. Wout is climbing with the best climbers too, so to be second to him is not so bad.”
Matthews had an inside line and made his move with 150 meters to go, however van Aert caught him with 100 meters to the finish and Matthews settled on another second-place finish.
“I went out too early,” added Matthews. “The team did a great race, delivering me to where I needed to be. But, I’m second again but hopefully I’m knocking the door of that win.”
“It was a pretty tough climb, with the flat part in between meant that everything uphill was really steep so I had to fight to stay in the wheel on Pogacar and his team mates,” said Van Aert.
Preview Stage 9: Aigle > Chatel Les Portes du Soleil
Sunday will feature a difficult mountain stage with a 193 km route from Aigle to Chatel Les Portes du Soleil in the Alps in Stage 9. There are four categorized climbs including two Category 1 and one Category 2. About halfway through the route, the peloton will face Cole de Mosses is a 13.4 km climb with a 4.1% grade. The first Category 1 beast is a 8.1 km ascent of Col de la Croix with a 7.6% grade. The final Category 1 is only 6.1% grade, but it’s a 15.4 km ascent to the top of Pas de Margins before another summit finish at Chatel.
You can expect the big climbers to dominate on Sunday. Could Chatel finally the moment that Jonas Vingegaard wins a stage this year and cuts into Pogacar’s lead? Or will Pogacar pad his lead and win a third stage in the last four? Or is this a solo victory from a breakaway rider?
Pogacar is +700 odds to win Stage 9. We like Lennard Kamma (Bora-Hansgrohe) at +750 odds to win a breakaway, but keep an eye on Kamm’s teammate Patrick Konrad at +2800 odds, and long shot Bob Jungles (AG2R Citroen) at +5000
| 2022 LE TOUR – OVERALL GC STANDINGS |
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 28:56:16
- Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +0:39
- Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) +1:14
- Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) +1:22
- David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +1:35
Vingegaard lost four seconds on Pogacar due to his third-place time bonus. Vingegaard is now 39 seconds behind in second place. Geraint Thomas from Ineos remains in third place, but he’s now 74 seconds off the lead.
American Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) sits in eight place and 101 seconds behind Pogacar.
Pogacar is still the betting favorite to win the 2022 Tour de France at -300 odds. Vingegaard is +275 odds to win Le Tour as the closest competitor. Thomas, the 2018 champion, is now +2500 odds and the third rider on the futures board.
Check out more of OG’s daily coverage of the 2022 Tour de France.