Cycling: Mads Pedersen has won the eighth stage of the Tour de France. The Dane won the demanding sprint in Limoges ahead of Jasper Philipsen and Wout van Aert.
Pedersen shows his qualities again
Still underestimated, he is one of the greatest drivers of his generation. Mads pedersen (Lidl – Trek) won today's eighth stage of the Tour de France. The 2019 World Champion not only won 3x the Vuelta a Espana and 1x the Giro d'Italia, but also 2x the Tour de France. The Dane kept a cool head in an exciting final phase. Once again he proved that he can overcome numerous obstacles on long sections and is often the freshest of them all at the end. Pedersen defeated the previous dominator in the sprint Jasper Phillipsen (Alpecin – Deceuninck) and wout van aert (Jumbo - Visma).
Just a small breakaway group
To the surprise of many, at the beginning of the 200,7-kilometer stage from Libourne to Limoges, only a three-man breakaway group formed around the two Frenchmen Anthony Delaplace (Arkéa – Samsic) and Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies), as well as the Belgian Tim Declercq (Soudal - Quick Step). 15 kilometers before the finish, Jumbo - Visma took over the command by increasing the pace properly. The last driver of the former trio was finally caught 8.000 meters from the finish.
Cavendish crashes and gives up
A drama happened on the eighth stage of the Tour de France Mark Cavendish (Astana). Around 60 kilometers from the finish, the Briton fell at low speed and caught his shoulder. He was then taken to the hospital with a suspected fractured collarbone. This ends what will probably be the last Tour de France for Cavendish after just eight days. Just yesterday he almost celebrated his 35th stage win. That would have made him the sole record holder. Now he stands at 34 victories – Eddy Merckx won just as many.
Cras & Yates also unlucky
Although there were few falls today, those who fell were unlucky in the end. It has been particularly unfortunate Steff Cras (TotalEnergies) caught. The Belgian rode an outstanding Tour de France and was 13th overall before the start of today's stage. After a fall, like Cavendish before him, he held his shoulder. He had to give up the Tour de France. unlucky too Simon yates (Jayco-AlUla). The Brit lost contact with the peloton in a crash six kilometers from the finish and lost valuable time as a result.
drama about @MarkCavendish. He fell and has to end his last Tour de France prematurely.#TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/kHtuSrLPj3
— Tour de France – DE (@letour_de) July 8, 2023
Mads finally launches early on a slight incline taking away Phillipsen punch That's signature @Mads__Pedersen pic.twitter.com/fmfxhTzHFh
- Alex Rasmussen (@alexfalkeman) July 8, 2023