The Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE), third in the stage, consolidated his yellow jersey as leader at the end of this day marked by the first cases of covid-19 in the peloton and the departure of the two positive riders (Laengen, Bouchard) .

In the sprint, van Aert, locked up for a moment, finally found the opening and outstripped the Australian Michael Matthews, already second Thursday at Longwy.

Pogacar, who competed in the sprint, pocketed 4 bonus seconds and increased his lead over Dane Jonas Vingegaard, second in the standings, to 39 seconds.

In this 186.3 kilometer stage, a maxi-fall knocked down or delayed many riders (Pogacar, G. Thomas, Roglic, Quintana, Bardet, Gaudu, etc.), 9 kilometers after the start from Dole.

The peloton, on the initiative of the UAE team, slowed down to allow the latecomers to return.

The American Kevin Vermaerke, one of the youngest in the peloton (21 years old) at the origin of the fall, had to give up.

The Italian Gianni Moscon, struggling for several days, subsequently gave up.

Up front, the breakaway of a trio formed by the Belgian Frederik Frison, the Italian Mattia Cattaneo and the Briton Fred Wright, obtained a good exit up to three and a half minutes.

But the teams of Wout van Aert (Jumbo) and Michael Matthews (BikeExchange) controlled the gap, varying between one and two minutes.

In the trio, Cattaneo opened the throttle 70 kilometers from the finish with Wright to charge towards the finish on an often downhill road.

For his part, Thibaut Pinot has accumulated misfortunes.

Victim of a fall without apparent gravity in a climb, he was hit in the face a few moments later by the haversack held out by a team assistant.

Wright, the last to resist, held on until 3.5 kilometers from the line.

He was overwhelmed by the vanguard of the peloton led most often, on the last climb (4.8 km at 4.6%) by Pogacar's teammates.

The joy of Wout Van Aert after his victory in the 8th stage of the Tour de France, July 9, 2022 in Lausanne Daniel Cole POOL / AFP

Wearer of the green jersey, van Aert won his eighth success in the Tour, tied with Pogacar.

The Belgian (27), who won the 4th stage alone in Calais, now has 37 victories to his name.

On Sunday, the 9th stage will connect Aigle, headquarters of the International Cycling Union in Switzerland, to the French resort of Châtel, for entry into the Alps.

© 2022 AFP