Jonathan Milan won a stage in the Tour de France for the first time in his career on Saturday. The 24-year-old Italian kept Wout van Aert behind him in the sprint of the eighth stage.
With the stage win, Milan has achieved his long-awaited success. The sprinter from Lidl-Trek was aiming for a stage win earlier in this Tour, including in the third stage, but had to acknowledge Tim Merlier as his superior in the sprint.
Milan had probably circled the eighth stage in red on his agenda for some time. He was considered the big favorite in advance, because the final was slightly uphill. He is the first Italian stage winner in the Tour since 2019, when Vincenzo Nibali won.
Merlier was unable to sprint for the victory in Laval. The Belgian had mechanical problems about 10 kilometers from the finish and ended outside the top ten. Van Aert finished second and Kaden Groves finished in third place.
The Dutch sprinters were also unable to play a significant role. Danny van Poppel was the best Dutchman in eleventh place. Dylan Groenewegen finished sixteenth and, like Van Poppel, will hope for revenge on Sunday.
Pogacar has time to ask about his wife
Tadej Pogacar experienced a quiet day in the yellow jersey, as was evident from the communication with the team leader’s car. His team informed him during the stage about the performance of his partner Urska Zigart in the Giro d’Italia.
Zigart finished seventh in the queen stage on Saturday, 1 minute and 37 seconds behind winner Sarah Gigante. “And in the general classification?”, he asked. Thereupon his team told him that Zigart had won two places and is eighth.
Pogacar came in 42nd in Laval and cherishes a lead of 54 seconds over number two Remco Evenepoel in the general classification. Jonas Vingegaard is fourth at 1 minute and 17 seconds from Pogacar.
Normally Pogacar will face another problem-free day on Sunday. After that, a mountain stage from Ennezat to Le Mont-Dore is scheduled for Quatorze Juillet. Tuesday is the first rest day of this Tour.