Tour de France 2022 LIVE result: Wout van Aert wins stage 8 in Lausanne sprint finish

Follow all the latest updates from the Tour de France as Tadej Pogacar continues in the yellow jersey

Wout van Aert wins stage eight on the line (REUTERS)

Belgian Wout van Aert won the eighth stage of the Tour de France on Saturday, a hilly 186.3-km ride from Dole to Lausanne.

The Jumbo-Visma rider prevailed in a reduced bunch sprint at the top of the Cote du Stade Olympique, a 4.8-km effort at an average gradient of 4.6%.

Australian Michael Matthews was second while Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey by finishing third, picking up a four-second time bonus in the process.

Sunday’s ninth stage is a 192.9-km mountainous trek from Aigle, Switzerland, to Chatel.

Tour de France 2022 – stage 8

• Hilly 186km route from Dole, France to Lausanne, Switzerland
• Tadej Pogacar continued in yellow jersey with half-a-minute lead
• Wout van Aert sprints to stage victory for second win of 2022 Tour

[9 July 2022 14:25 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Tour de France 2022 – stage 8

100km to go: The breakaway of Mattia Cattaneo (QuickStep), Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and Frederik Frison (Lotto-Soudal) has stabilised at around 1 min 50 sec for the timebeing.

[9 July 2022 14:24 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Tour de France 2022 – stage 8

Mathieu van der Poel has not looked in good shape this week, perhaps suffering a hangover from the Giro, but the brilliant Dutchman says he is starting to feel better in his legs. He said earlier: “I think yesterday was a big improvement already on the first days. So I think I have to try and hold this good feeling, then maybe in the second week I can ride a bit more offensively.”

Can he win today? “I don’t think so. Maybe it’s difficult to predict, though we also have Jasper [Philipsen] who’s doing really well. I think he already showed that he’s in great form and he has a really good sprint, so if he feels good today we will ride for him.”

Mathieu van der Poel, left, has found it tough going so far (AFP via Getty Images)

[9 July 2022 14:16 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Tour de France 2022 – stage 8

107km to go: The break leads by less than two minutes from the peloton for the first time a long while. The main bunch continues to ride a high pace as they bridge from the first categorised climb towards the second of the day, and towards the Swiss border.

A reminder of what occurred yesterday, as Tadej Pogacar won a dramatic finale atop La Planche des Belles Filles:

[9 July 2022 14:05 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Tour de France 2022 – stage 8

“It looks like we could have a group sprint in Lausanne today,” says Bradley Wiggins, riding on a motorbike through the peloton for Eurosport. “I thought the breakaway would get away today but, I tell you what, the pace of this peloton today...”

The break’s lead has been cut right down to around 2 min 20 sec.

[9 July 2022 13:57 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Tour de France 2022 – stage 8

Jumbo-Visma sporting director Frans Maassen on Jonas Vingegaard’s strong ride yesterday, where he finished second to Tadej Pogacar on the line: “He was a bit disappointed, he thought he would take this stage, but of course we are really happy. It was a fantastic stage, we were there with four riders in the first 20.”

On Primoz Roglic managing his injury after crashing on stage five: “It was really good to see that he was there because afer his crash you don’t feel that good, but being third on that stage it gives us that confidence and hope.”

On Wout van Aert potentially winning today’s stage: “We’ll take it day by day, of course yesterday he had an easy day, he took some rest at the start of the climb. Today could be another day but of course the break could go to the end so it’s difficult to have a bunch sprint today.”

[9 July 2022 13:52 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Tour de France 2022 – stage 8

120km to go: The break’s lead has been cut slightly by the hard-working peloton, led by BikeExchange and Jumbo-Visma. BikeExchange will fancy Michael Matthews for this lumpy stage win today, while Jumbo will think Wout van Aert can win it.

[9 July 2022 13:49 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Tour de France 2022 – stage 8

The breakaway of Mattia Cattaneo (QuickStep), Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and Frederik Frison (Lotto-Soudal) are making their way up the first categorised climb of the day, the Cote du Marechet (2.1km, 5.7%).

Stage 8 profile (letour)

[9 July 2022 13:46 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Tour de France 2022 – stage 8

Meanwhile, at the women’s Giro today:

[9 July 2022 13:31 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Tour de France 2022 – stage 8

133km to go: The breakaway trio of Cattaneo, Wright and Frison have a lead of just over three minutes from the main bunch.

[9 July 2022 13:29 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Tour de France 2022 – stage 8

After the breakaway passes through the intermediate sprint line, the fast men move off the front of the peloton to battle for the remaining points. Wout van Aert, the man with a big lead for the green jersey, is just pipped by Jasper Philipsen, with Fabio Jakobsen trailing behind them, none of which matters too much – Van Aert’s stranglehold on green remains.