BikeExchange-Jayco commit, Matthews close run-thing
The Australian WorldTour team already has a stage win at the Tour de France, but they are really committing to Michael Matthews in these intermediate stages. They were one of the teams that chased down van Aert on Stage 6, and again on Stage 8, they were the main presence on the front of the peloton with Chris Juul-Jensen, Luke Durbridge and Amund Grøndahl Jansen all manning the head of the peloton for long sections of the chase.
Matthews played a great tactical game in the finish, moving up at the perfect moment to keep van Aert trapped on the barriers and then launching his sprint early to get in front and take the fastest way round the slight bend to the finish. Van Aert was just too good.
It appears to be a mix of stages for Matthews, stages for Groenewegen and mountain days being for breakaways, so there aren’t any days off for the Aussie team and it’s good to see them always involved in the race.
Massive Crash
A stray, Australian-targetting hay bale aside on Stage 5, the Tour de France hasn’t had the destructive falls that characterise the early stages of most Tours and, in particular, last year’s race.
Today’s fall in the early kilometres of the stage was one of the most dramatic, and affected the most riders, with riders spearing off into the ditch or falling on the road. See more below for the consequences from the fall.
Ben O’Connor down but not out
Ben O’Connor's (AG2R-Citroen) unlucky run continued with another crash on the early part of Stage 8. O'Connor was one of the unlucky ones who happened be directly behind felled rider Kevin Vermaerke (Team DSM). Others fell off the road to what appeared to be soft landings in the ditch, but O’Connor was back on the bitumen again, after nursing his way through injuries sustained in a Stage 2 crash.
Vermaerke would abandon shortly after and there were nervous moments for Australian viewers as O’Connor spent significant time with the race doctor and battled at the rear of the peloton for much of the race. He did make the finish, but there was speculation from the SBS commentary team that he might be better off pulling out.
For what it’s worth - and obviously this is a decision that should be driven by O’Connor and how he's feeling - he was in a worse condition after Stage 1 of last year’s Tour de France, and that turned into a brilliant race for him. There is precedent for him making a successful comeback.
Pinot, no! Are you ok?
It was a rapid succession of bad luck for Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) as the closed on the finish. He was first caught up in a touch of wheels and hit the deck on the Col de Petra Felix. He picked himself up and continued, but just as he reached the rear of the peloton he struck a Trek-Segafredo soigneur attempting to pass out a feed bag.
He again had to stop, but he remounted and continued, hopefully, his Tour de France gets better from here on. Most people carry a soft spot in their hearts for the Frenchman after his tearful abandon of the 2019 Tour de France when potentially in a winning position.
Van Aert fights out of box for win
It’s quickly becoming expected that Wout van Aert will win stages regularly - even amongst top competion at the Tour de France - but he had an added degree of difficulty to his Stage 8 win. The Belgian star kept himself in a good position throughout the ascent, even bridging over when the pace line became fragmented on the early slopes.
In the final sprint, Matthews did a great job to box him in, as Pogacar moved out to start sprinting, Matthews shunted van Aert off the wheel, which meant that others could come from behind and impede van Aert further. The Belgian had to squeeze his way out of two close situations to clean air and had conceded 3-4 lengths to his Australian rival with the sprint in full force.
However, van Aert isn’t defeated by such misfortune, his impressive acceleration saw him overhaul Matthews to take the win, padding his lead nicely at the head of the green jersey standings.
The Tour de France continues with Stage 9, a tough day in the mountains from Aigle to Châtel les portes du Soleil. Watch the racing action on the SBS SKODA Tour Tracker from 8.20pm AEST, with the SBS broadcast and SBS On Demand livestream beginning at 8.30pm.
