Pogačar third at arrival to Lausanne

The eighth stage of the Tour de France made a stop today in Switzerland with Tadej Pogačar taking third place, after 186km starting from Dole and arriving in Lausanne.

The day was characterized by many ups and downs, on which the main breakaway, made up of three men, gained a 3 minute lead.

In the final climb, first McNulty and then Majka accompanied Pogačar up to -200 meters.
In the final sprint, the Slovenian finished in third place, just behind Matthews (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) and the winner Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).

Pogačar: “The win was not that far away but it was a fun game. I maybe hesitated a little bit and Van Aert passed me with super speed. For sure it’s a little disappointing but third place is still great.

I always like sprinting, when I was younger I was the smallest and almost always last. I’m really happy that now at least when it’s going up 4 or 5k I can still do a solid sprint in the end. But still not as close as Matthews and Van Aert.

Today we were missing our big man Vegard Stake Laengen, who unfortunately had to withdraw. We will miss him for sure.
At the start I was in the middle of the crash too. I hit the ground but not so much, it was one of the softest crashes I’ve ever experienced. It was for me nothing bad, we came back quite fast and for me it was OK.”

Another demanding stage suitable for climbers is scheduled for tomorrow, 192.9 km with departure from Aigle and arrival in Châtel Les Portes du Soleil and 4 GPM points.

Results stage 8:
1.Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) 4h13’06 ”
2.Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) s.t
3.Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) s.t.

General classification after stage 8:
1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 28h56’16 “
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +39 ”
3. Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) + 1’14 “