Dylan Groenewegen snatched his second win in a row on the Tour de France when he prevailed in awe-inspiring fashion in a bunch sprint at the end of the eighth stage on Saturday.
The Dutchman needed no help from his team mates in the final straight as he slalomed through his rivals to beat Andre Greipel by almost a bike length after 181 kms from Dreux, with Fernando Gaviria crossing the line third.
However, both Gaviria and Greipel were later disqualified. Gaviria had been boxed in by Greipel in the final 200 meters and the Colombian appeared to headbutt his rival’s lower back in retaliation.
Peter Sagan was promoted to second, and John Degenkolb to third. Greg van Avermaet retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey.
“My shape is getting better by the day, I’m proud that I won again today,” said Groenewegen.“Sagan started very early and it was a bit messy, and I surged ahead. It was a good opportunity and I seized it.”
One of the overall favorites, Dan Martin who won the sixth stage on Thursday, crashed with 17 kms left and lost one minute 16 seconds. Martin hit the asphalt as the peloton was speeding up to get ready for the final sprint.
Three of his UAE Emirates team mates dropped back to help him regain his place in the bunch but Martin, with the back of his jersey ripped off and his left elbow bleeding, had to concede time ahead of a crucial ninth stage featuring 21.7 kms of cobbled sectors.
All the other favorites spent a quiet day in another slow ride.
“It was a good day, no incident, I’m glad I still have the yellow jersey ahead of tomorrow’s stage,” said Van Avermaet, who leadsnGeraint Thomas by seven seconds.
Tour de France 2018 – stage 8 results (Dreux – Amiens):
| 1 | Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) | 4:23:36 |
| 2 | Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 3 | John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 4 | Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 5 | Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 6 | Thomas Boudat (Direct Energie) | ,, |
| 7 | Nikias Arndt (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 8 | Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 9 | Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 10 | Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty – Groupe Gobert) | ,, |
| 11 | Daniel Oss (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 12 | Timothy Dupont (Wanty – Groupe Gobert) | ,, |
| 13 | Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 14 | Taylor Phinney (EF Education First-Drapac) | ,, |
| 15 | Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) | ,, |
| 16 | Dion Smith (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) | ,, |
| 17 | Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 18 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 19 | Chris Froome (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 20 | Maximiliano Richeze (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
General classification after stage 8:
| 1 | Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) | 32:43:00 |
| 2 | Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) | +07” |
| 3 | Tejay van Garderen (BMC) | +09” |
| 4 | Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) | +16” |
| 5 | Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) | +22” |
| 6 | Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First-Drapac) | +49” |
| 7 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | +55” |
| 8 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | +56” |
| 9 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) | +57” |
| 10 | Richie Porte (BMC) | ,, |
| 11 | Mikel Landa (Movistar) | +59” |
| 12 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | +01’06” |
| 13 | Chris Froome (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 14 | Søren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) | +01’07” |
| 15 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) | +01’12” |
| 16 | Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +01’21” |
| 17 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) | +01’22” |
| 18 | Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) | +01’26” |
| 19 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | +01’27” |
| 20 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +01’30” |
