Tour de France Stage 8: Pedersen Wins, Cavendish Out

200 km separate Libourne from Limoges for the 8th stage of the Tour de France. Pedersen took the lead in Limoges, claiming his first victory on this Tour. 

For this final stage before the Massif Central and the great Puy de Dôme, the riders covered 200 km between Libourne and Limoges, a way to warm up with a challenging stage featuring headwind from ¾ front. Wout Van Aert emerged victorious. 

An Exciting First Part of the Race 

At the start, Victor Campenaerts was the first to attempt an escape, but without much success. For more than 25 km, the breakaway riders tried to get ahead of the peloton. A trio managed to break free, including Anthony Delaplace, Anthony Turgis, and Tim Declerq. This group held their own against the peloton with only a few seconds’ lead, but Alpecin let the leading group go. 

Like yesterday, the riders are riding in high temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius. 

An Intermediate Sprint Contested

The leading group managed to win the intermediate sprint, with Anthony Delaplace crossing first ahead of his compatriot Anthony Turgis. On the peloton’s side, Philipsen took 13 points. After that, a break occurred in the peloton, but everything eventually settled back into place. 

For the first difficulty of the day, Anthony Turgis earned two points. 

Cavendish Withdraws

The co-record holder for Tour de France stage wins has been forced to withdraw after a fall. The rider announced that this is his last Tour, so the record will not be broken. 

At 34 km from the finish, while the peloton was led by Jumbo Visma, Kasper Asgreen made a different decision and broke away. At 19 km from the finish, the Danish rider was caught by the peloton, although a breakaway still remained ahead. 

A Close Finish

As the incline begins to rise, Turgis went alone with 15 km remaining, dropping his two companions in the escape. 

In the final stretch, Campenaerts tried to go on the attack again, without much success. Simon Yates crashed along with Mikel Landa and Steff Cras, the latter had to withdraw. 

In the last 400 meters, Pedersen tucked in behind the wheels and took victory ahead of Jasper Philipsen, who did not win the sprint for the first time in this 110th edition. 

Wout Van Aert completed the podium, with Vingegaard still wearing the yellow jersey. 

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