LAUSANNE: Wout van Aert consolidated his lead in the points classification of the Tour de France with an impressive late burst of speed on Saturday to win the eighth stage of cycling’s biggest race, a hilly 186.3-km ride from Dole to Lausanne across the border in Switzerland.

The Belgian bagged his second stage win in this edition in a reduced bunch sprint at the top of the Cote du Stade Olympique, a 4.8-km effort at an average gradient of 4.6%.

Green jersey holder Van Aert, who now has a 115-point lead in the points classification over Dutchman Fabio Jakobsen, beat Australian Michael Matthews after launching his sprint with 200 metres left.

Tadej Pogacar took third place to retain his overall leader’s yellow jersey, picking up a four-second time bonus in the process.

Sunday’s ninth stage is a 192.9-km mountainous trek from Aigle, Switzerland, to Chatel back in France.

Pogacar was involved in an early mass pile-up that brought two-time runner-up Nairo Quintana, two-time podium finisher Romain Bardet and fellow Frenchman David Gaudu, as well as 2018 champion Geraint Thomas, to the ground - or into a grassy ditch.

None of them appeared to have been injured.

A three-man breakaway featuring Mattia Cattaneo, Frederik Frison and Fred Wright built up a lead of around three minutes on the peloton but they were kept on a tight leash.

Australian Ben O’Connor, fourth overall last year, struggled throughout the day with hip pains following a crash in Wednesday’s fifth stage. He received treatment from the race doctor and ground his way through the stage.

Wright, who had dropped Frison and Cattaneo, was finally caught with 3.5 kilometres remaining as Pogacar’s UAE Emirates team mate Rafal Majka rode a hard tempo in front of a skimming peloton.

Pogacar took a chance in the final sprint but Van Aert had too much power for him, and the Jumbo-Visma rider claimed an eighth career win on the Tour in awe-inspiring fashion.

Earlier, Pogacar’s team-mate Vegard Stake Laengen tested positive for Covid-19, and the team now face a nervous three days to see if others on the team fall sick. The 33-year-old Norwegian, often seen pulling at the front of the UAE Team Emirates train in a headwind, took ill overnight despite testing negative on Thursday morning.

“He reported symptoms of a sore throat late last night,” said team doctor Adriano Rotunno. “The antigen test was positive and it was confirmed by a PCR.” Rotunno expressed concern the virus may have spread within the team.

“We believe he was infected by an outside source, three to five day ago, giving him time to infect other team members,” he said outside the team bus at the start line Saturday.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2022