Wout van Aert sprints to Stage 8 win at Tour de France 2022
The Belgian Team Jumbo-Visma rider timed his hill-finish to perfection in Lausanne after 186km of racing to take his second stage victory of the 2022 race.
Cycling Road
Wout van Aert put on a finishing masterclass to claim Stage 8 of the Tour de France 2022 on Saturday (9 July) in the Olympic home city of Lausanne, Switzerland.
The Belgian Olympic silver medallist bided his time as Michael Matthews and **Tadej Pogacar**both made their move on the punishing hill-finish around Lake Geneva, before overtaking them on the final straight to seal a comfortable win.
After finishing second in the first three stages, Van Aert's now has two stage wins to his name in 2022 and extends his lead in the green jersey classification by 115 points from Fabio Jakobsen.
"Of course I'm super happy. Today was a chance to pick up a lot of green points on a few of my competitors," Van Aert of Team Jumbo-Visma said afterwards."
"I'm really glad my team put everything chased down the breakaway and I had to finish it off.
"It was a pretty tough climb, 4.5 km at 4 percent, it was really steep so I had to fight to stay on the wheel of Pogacar and his teammates, but I knew if I could do that, the sprint was a bit flatter so I was waiting for that moment.
"Maybe it’s something extra to win in the Olympic city, but just winning another Tour de France stage no matter where is nice."
Slovenian Pogacar finished in third to pick up bonus seconds and maintain his overall lead.
Here is everything you need to know about this year's Tour de France.
2022 Tour de France: Stage 8 results - Saturday, 9 July
- Wout van Aert (Bel/Jumbo-Visma) 4hrs 13mins 6secs
- Michael Matthews (Aus/BikeExchange–Jayco) Same time
- Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) Same time
- Andreas Kron (Den/Lotto-Soudal) Same time
- Alberto Bettiol (Ita/EF Education–EasyPost) Same time
2022 Tour de France: General classification standings after Stage 8 on Saturday, 9 July
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 28:56:16
- Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +0:39
- Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) +1:14
- Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) + 1:22
- David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +1:35
Schedule and stage winners: Day-by-day route of 2022 Tour de France
Fri 1 July: Stage 1 – Copenhagen-Copenhagen (time trial, 13.2 km) - Won by Yves Lampaert (Belgium), who also took the yellow jersey for overall lead of the race's general classification.
Sat 2 July: Stage 2 – Roskilde-Nyborg (202.5 km) - Won by Fabio Jakobsen (Netherlands). Wout van Aert (Belgium) claimed overall race lead.
Sun 3 July: Stage 3 – Vejle-Sonderborg (182 km) - Won by Dylan Groenewegen (Netherlands). Wout van Aert (Belgium) retained overall race lead.
Mon 4 July: Transfer Day - from Denmark to France.
Tue 5 July: Stage 4 – Dunkerque-Calais (171.5 km) - Won by Wout van Aert (Belgium), who retained overall race lead.
Wed 6 July: Stage 5 – Lille Metropole-Arenburg Porte du Hainaut (157 km) - Won by Simon Clarke (Australia), Wout van Aert (Belgium) retained overall race lead.
Thu 7 July: Stage 6 – Binche-Longwy (220km) - Won by Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia), who took the overall race lead.
Fri 8 July: Stage 7 – Tomblaine-La Super Planche de Belles Filles (176.5 km) - Won by Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia), who increased his overall lead.
Sat 9 July: Stage 8 – Dole-Lausanne (186.5km) - Won by Wout van Aert (Belgium), who increased his green jersey classification lead.
Sunday 10 July: Stage 9 – Aigle-Chatel les Portes du Soleil (193km)
Monday 11 July: Rest Day
Tuesday 12 July: Stage 10 – Morzine Les Portes du Soleil-Megeve (148.5km)
Wednesday 13 July: Stage 11 – Albertville-Col du Granon Serre Chevalier (152km)
Thursday 14 July: Stage 12 – Briancon-Alpe d’Huez (165.5km)
Friday 15 July: Stage 13 – Le Bourg d’Oisans-Saint Etienne (193km)
Saturday 16 July: Stage 14 – Saint Etienne-Mende (192.5km)
Sunday 17 July: Stage 15 – Rodez-Carcassonne (202.5km)
Monday 18 July: Rest Day
Tuesday 19 July: Stage 16 – Carcassonne-Foix (178,5km)
Wednesday 20 July: Stage 17 – Saint-Gaudens-Peyragudes (130km)
Thursday 21 July: Stage 18 – Lourdes-Hautacam (143.5km)
Friday 22 July: Stage 19 – Castelnau-Magnoac – Cahors (188.5km)
Saturday 23 July: Stage 20 – Lacapelle-Marival - Rocamadour (time trial, 40.7km)
Sunday 24 July: Stage 21 – Paris La Defence Arena – Paris Champs Elysees (116km)