Jumbo Visma’s all-arounder demi-god Wout van Aert was not ready to relinquish the spotlight to the team’s GC hopefuls, wins Stage 8 of the 2022 Tour de France. The Belgian no longer wears the yellow jersey, but seems intent on making up for his near-miss, second-place finishes in stages 1, 2, and 3. Teammates and GC hopefuls Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard (and the rest of the peloton) can only look on in wonder as van Aert outsprints his rivals yet another day. The cycling world wonders how long he can keep up the intensity of effort.

Likely van Aert’s intensity will diminish on the big mountain stages ahead. First and foremost, the monstrous mountains of Stage 11 and 12. He will still look for stage wins where available in pursuit of the green jersey. 

In the meantime consensus GC favorite Tadej Pogacar holds onto the yellow jersey and puts a little time into his Jumbo Visma rivals, day by day. Don’t forget the riders of Ineos-Grenadiers, however, as former Tour winner Geraint Thomas holds the 3rd best overall time after Stage 8 – and his teammates Thomas Pidcock (7th) and Dani Martinez (10th) make three in top-10.

The race action was by the numbers in Stage 8. Despite a crash in the peloton – which hampered the efforts of many big names, including Tadej Pogacar, Romain Bardet, David Gaudu, Geraint Thomas, Peter Sagan, Enric Mas and Nairo Quintana – the breakaway never had a real chance. The peloton caught up with under 10km to go and the finish turned into a three-way sprint between Wout van Aert (JV), Michael Matthews (BEX), and Tadej Pogacar (UAE). Not even the Slovenian strongman Pogacar had a chance against van Aert at the top of his sprint game.

Elsewhere in the race Magnus Cort Nielsen (EF) took no KOM points but managed to hold onto the polka dot jersey for another day. His teammate Neilson Powless (EF) hangs on as the only American rider in the top-10. Who the real GC contender is for EF, Powless or top veteran Rigoberto Uran (EF) will be sorted in the coming mountain stages. If not after stages 11 and 12, then most definitely by the end of the big mountains in stages 16, 17, and 18.