Not only the “Breakaway King” was the winner of the day.
The 200 km long 8th stage of the Tour de France in 2019 included 7 ascents (2nd and 3rd categories), ideal for a successful breakaway. The stage was held on the 13th of July, a.k a, on the eve of the Bastille Day.
A breakaway group with Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Ben King (Dimension Data) and Niki Terpstra (Direct Energie) established right after the start. There was a fourth rider, Mads Würtz (Katusha), who dropped soon, most likely because the tactic of his team based not this kind of breakaway group. Nevertheless, the trio became a quartet again soon, when Alessandro de Marchi (CCC) was able to join them.
The biggest gap between the break and the peloton was around 5 minutes. The main bunch wasn’t that eager to catch the four riders at the front of the race, however, the gap was decreasing slowly.
The first turning point of the day was the penultimate climb (Côte d’Aveize, 5,2 km, 6,4%), when Terpstra and King lost the connection to the two others. Also in the peloton several riders dropped.
On the last hill of the day (Côte de la Jaillère, 1,9 km, 7,6%) Thomas De Gendt dropped De Marchi and had only one job left: to cross the finish line first, which he completed successfully.
Meanwhile, behind de Gendt a big battle emerged among the top riders of the actual GC. On the last climb (with time bonuses) Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) launched an attack. Only Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) could answer it. The peloton chased the duo, but all the effort of the Trek-Segafredo team, especially the actual race leader (Giulio Ciccone) wasn’t enough to keep the yellow jersey at least for one more day. Julian Alaphilippe was the -old-new race leader.
Stage Top 10
1 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Soudal Lotto 5:00:17
2 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama – FDJ 0:00:06
3 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck – Quick Step 0:00:06
4 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:26
5 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora – Hansgrohe 0:00:26
6 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton – Scott 0:00:26
7 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty – Gobert Cycling Team 0:00:26
8 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) CCC Team 0:00:26
9 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Team Ineos 0:00:26
10 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos 0:00:26
GC TOP10
1 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck – Quick Step 34:17:59
2 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek – Segafredo 0:00:23
3 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama – FDJ 0:00:53
4 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo – Visma 0:01:10
5 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos 0:01:12
6 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Team Ineos 0:01:16
7 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo – Visma 0:01:27
8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First 0:01:38
9 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:01:42
10 Emanuel Buchmann (GER) Bora – Hansgrohe 0:01:45