Wout van Aert was undoubtedly the surprise of the eighth stage of the Tour de France. The Belgian rider from Visma | Lease a Bike finished second behind the winner, Jonathan Milan, proving that he finally seems to be making headway. In Belgium, the results of stage 8 will have been viewed with even more approval because, in addition to Van Aert, the country has a new sprint opportunity on Sunday and two more serious contenders for the stage.
In fifth place, we saw Arnaud De Lie, marking a first for the young sprinter from Lotto in this Tour. He was not among the front runners in the sprints on days 1 and 3, so his sprint on day 8 was a considerable boost. “This is great; we fought hard as a team to achieve a good result,” De Lie told Cyclism’Actu. “I made two or three small mistakes, but it’s still the biggest race in the world, at the highest level. I’m proud of my sprint.”

De Lie, who felt mentally drained in the months leading up to the Tour after a disappointing spring, can now hope for a strong second half. There will be more sprint opportunities on days 9 and 17, but with his climbing skills, De Lie may be able to hope for good results more often. “I’m not yet the Arnaud De Lie we want to see, but I feel that my legs are good, even if they’re not yet what they used to be. Compared to the first day, however, things are going much better.”

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Merlier sees chances slip away due to flat tire

Tim Merlier already secured a stage win after the Belgian from Soudal-Quick Step came out on top on day 3. He had undoubtedly circled day 8 in his calendar, but a flat tire ruined all his chances. “I got a flat tire on a roundabout, and I knew right away that it was going to be difficult,” he told VTM. The European champion came back fairly quickly, but then lost his good position. “After that, there were two more roundabouts at the end that were crucial.”

“After the penultimate one, I had to brake too hard and then accelerate again to the next roundabout. That took too much energy, and then I had to reposition myself again,” he said, disappointedly. “I was still in the slipstream until 500 meters, but then I felt that it wasn’t going to work, and I let it go. It’s the second chance that’s been ruined, and that’s frustrating, but that’s racing, and it’s part of it. I’ve been lucky before, but now I’ve had two setbacks. On to tomorrow.”