LAVAL, France (AP) — Italian rider Jonathan Milan timed his attack perfectly to win the eighth stage of the Tour de France in a sprint finish on Saturday.
Milan overtook Australian Kaden Groves on his left and held off Belgian rider Wout van Aert to beat him by about half a bike length. Milan won Olympic gold with Italy in team pursuit at the 2021 Tokyo Games and this was his first Tour stage win to go with four on the Giro d'Italia.
Defending champion Tadej Pogačar kept the yellow jersey after finishing in the main pack.
Ottawa's Michael Woods was 88th, 43 minutes back of Pogačar and Guillaume Boivin of Longueil, Que., was 166th, 1:14:05 back of the lead. The Canadians are teammates on Israel-Premier Tech.
After Friday's tough grind, the peloton set off at a slower pace on a sun-baked Stage 8, starting from the Brittany commune of Saint-Méen-le-Grand and taking riders 171 kilometers (106 miles) to Laval in western France.
The main teams had no will to set a high pace, so the peloton trundled along through country roads until two riders —- French teammates Mathieu Burgaudeau and Matteo Vercher — broke away with about 80 kilometers left.
The peloton did not respond, continuing to roll at a lethargic pace for a long time with no team deciding to lead the chase.
“It was a much more relaxing stage than the previous ones," Pogačar said. “It has been a good day out in order to recover from the many efforts we have already done.”
Pogačar even had time to check how his girlfriend Urška Žigart was doing on the women's Giro. She finished seventh on Stage 7.
“I'm always nervous on the bike when she is racing, and it's great to hear about her,” he said. "When she does well, I feel super happy.”
The pack was taking it a bit too easy in his race, though.
When sprinters realized they were in danger of missing out on a stage win, the peloton's speed had to increase eventually, and the two riders were finally caught with nine kilometers left.
After a sinewy route near the finish, Stage 2 winner Mathieu van der Poel accelerated to put his Alpecin–Deceuninck teammate Groves into a good position, but they attacked a little too soon.
Milan anticipated this, made his own move and withstood Van Aert's late attack behind him. The trio clocked 3 hours, 50 minutes.
“It was a tough finale. I was in the front positions and I waited for the right moment to launch my sprint,” Milan said. “I gave it all and it worked out.”
In the overall standings, double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel remained 54 seconds behind Pogačar in second place. Frenchman Kévin Vauquelin was third at 1 minutes, 11 seconds, and two-time Tour champion Jonas Vingegaard sat 1:17 behind in fourth spot.
Sunday is for sprinters
Stage 9 of the three-week race heads into central France on a 158-kilometer flat stage for sprinters finishing in Châteauroux.
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The Associated Press
