UAE Team Emirates-XRG star rider Tadej Pogacar retained his yellow jersey as Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek fought off Belgian Wout van Aert to win stage eight of the Tour de France from Saint-Meen-le-Grand to Laval on Saturday.
Milan, riding his first Tour, looked to have been caught off guard when Van Aert (Visma – Lease a Bike) hit the front, but the Italian battled to overtake the Belgian, with Australian Kaden Groves (Alpecin – Deceuninck) coming in third in a mass bunch sprint.
Slovenia's Pogacar remains 54 seconds ahead of Belgian Remco Evenepoel (Soudal – Quick-Step) in the overall standings.
Frenchman Kevin Vauquelin is third at one minute, 11 seconds, and two-time Tour champion Jonas Vingegaard sits 1:17 behind in fourth spot.
On a day for pure sprinters and with no change at the top of the overall rankings, Lidl-Trek's Milan was the first Italian to win a stage on the Tour since Vincenzo Nibali in 2019.
Milan is the 2021 Tokyo Olympics gold medallist in team pursuit and the 2024 world champion in individual pursuit.
Pogacar, aiming for his fourth Tour de France crown, had earlier secured a superb win in stage seven to regain the yellow jersey. Pogacar had on Friday picked up victory number 60 of the season for UAE Team Emirates.
Milan, 24, took over the top of the sprint points rankings and had been wearing the green tunic in place of Pogacar, who had earned the sprint and the overall leader's yellow jersey by winning stage seven.
The riders rolled through the Brittany countryside with the harvest continuing a month early and colossal crowds on the roadside.
Under clear blue skies and 31° Celsius heat there was little inspiration in the peloton to breakaway until late in the day.
French duo Mathieu Burgaudeau and Matteo Vercher attacked from 70km and the pair were only reeled in on the edge of Laval after enthusiastic support on this Tour.
“I think I still don’t understand what we did. We came with some expectations and dreams to bring home. Then to predict it and bring them home are two different things,” Milan said after his win.
“We were really close in the last (sprint), not the first stage, but on the third one we were pretty close, we know we just went too early, but today we were really focused. I really believed in my guys, they did an amazing job.
“It was a tough final, I have to say it was a bit stressful and I was not expecting it to drag up so much in the last kilometre. I had to wait as long as I could, but I like this kind of finale and I'm really happy for the world that we did. We really deserved it.”
Stage nine on Sunday heads south from Chinon to Chateauroux and is another flat affair with the focus on keeping hydrated in the heat and staying in the saddle.
But on France's national holiday on Monday there are eight classified climbs and many more besides in a stage loaded with opportunities.
