Thomas de Gendt of Lotto Soudal celebrates after his win on Stage 8 of the 2019 Tour de France. Photo: EPA/YOAN VALAT
Tour de France 2019 – Stage 8: Profile, prediction, crashes, standings, time and TV
Here’s everything you need to know about Stage 8 of the Tour de France. From predictions to live stream stream details.
Thomas de Gendt of Lotto Soudal celebrates after his win on Stage 8 of the 2019 Tour de France. Photo: EPA/YOAN VALAT
Thomas De Gendt won Saturday’s Tour de France eighth stage with a solo breakaway as home hero Julian Alaphilippe thrillingly won back the yellow jersey a day ahead of the Bastille Day national holiday.
In a breath-taking finish, defending champion Geraint Thomas survived a spectacular fall, but lost time to title rival Thibaut Pinot in the overall standings.
Former soldier Alaphilippe took the overall lead on stage three with a stunning solo break but lost it to Italy’s Giulio Ciccone at the Planche des Belles Filles mountain slog on Thursday.
However, with 15km to go on Saturday, Alaphilippe and Pinot combined to drop the peloton in a desperate bid to get back the yellow jersey and for Pinot to take time in the overall on his title rivals.
They could not catch De Gendt, the Belgian who won by six seconds, but beat Ciccone by 20 seconds for Alaphilippe to regain the yellow and wear it on Sunday for the July 14 festivities.
The last French rider to be in yellow for Bastille Day fireworks was Tony Gallopin in 2014.
Saturday’s stage was a notable success for FDJ captain Pinot, who was ecstatic after climbing to third in the overall standings behind Alaphilippe and Ciccone.
Top five on Stage 8
- Thomas De Gendt
- Thibaut Pinot
- Julian Alaphilippe
- Michael Matthews
- Peter Sagan
Overall: Julian Alaphilippe is back in the yellow jersey.
Also read:
- Tour de France 2019: Route map, stage profiles, dates and distance
- Why Mark Cavendish won’t be riding the 2019 Tour de France
- Yellow Jersey centenary – a unique jersey for every stage
- Tour de France 2019: Latest classification standings
- Rider bunny hops to avoid crash
- The 2019 riders ranked from youngest to oldest
Stage 8 crash report
Nothing too serious. Just Team Ineos knackering one of their pricey bikes.
Tour de France 2019: Stage 8
One of the circles of hell Dante didn’t have room for. Those who don’t like climbing will suffer for much of this route. Riders will come up against the Croix de Montmain, the Croix de Thel, the Croix Paquet, the Croix de Part and the côte d’Aveize. Various climbs in various categories and a steady 3 800 metres of ascending elevation! Easy like a Saturday afternoon ride.
Distance: 200km
Profile: A bumpy run down to Saint-Etienne with seven categorized climbs.
Prediction
It’s a day for the climbers – but not the favourites. Why? Well, because this year’s tour is brutal and expending too much energy at this early juncture might come back to haunt the riders. Still, the French climbers might just throw caution into the wind in the spirit of Bastille Day. Allez!
How to watch and start time
The action will be live on SuperSport 5 from 12:00 and should finish at around 17:30. If you don’t have a Dstv subscription, you can follow Le Tour’s YouTube channel for all the highlights.
