No surprise on the 8th stage of the Tour de France over 201 km from Libourne to Limoges: A breakaway group failed again on Saturday (07/08/23) and was caught a few kilometers before the finish. For super sprinter Mark Cavendish, the part of the day brought the painful end. The Dane Mads Pedersen won the day’s sprint, breaking through the previous dominance of Jasper Philipsen.
Team Jumbo-Visma, led by overall leader Jonas Vingegaard, put on a lot of steam on the final climb and caught escapee Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) at the 190 km mark. Victor Campenaerts (LTS) tried to break away again – but was quickly caught.
Another mass sprint was looming in Limoges – and there Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) prevailed against Philipsen (Alpecin – Deceuninck) and Wout van Aert (TJV). After three stage wins, Philipsen was beaten for the first time on a flat stage of this tour. Nothing has changed in the overall standings, with Vingegaard still leading ahead of Tadej Pogačar (UAE), who finished tenth in Limoges, and ahead of Jai Hindley (BOH) in third. Phil Bauhaus played no role on his 29th birthday on the steep final ramp. “It looked good for a long time. But when Jumbo-Visma rode from the front on the last hill, I knew it was going to be difficult.”said Bauhaus on the sports show microphone, “200 meters before the mountain classification my legs opened up, nothing worked anymore.”
Cavendish has to go break of collarbone give up
The hunt for the sole stage record of the Tour de France has ended prematurely for British professional cyclist Mark Cavendish. The 38-year-old from Team Astana Qazaqstan fell about 64 km before the finish of the eighth stage in Limoges and had to retire from the race injured. After the fall, Cavendish initially lay on the asphalt in pain and was treated in a medical support vehicle. He suffered a broken collarbone, according to a first examination at the hospital on Saturday afternoon.
“Manx Missile” Cavendish had started the 110th tour to become the sole record holder with his 35th stage win. On Friday, Cavendish narrowly missed the record as second in Bordeaux – it was to be his last sprint on the big stage. Cavendish retires at the end of the season.
“Incredible, this is really a tragedy”, said the German professional cyclist Georg Zimmermann. Cavendish proved he could outperform Merckx: “It’s very sad.” Nikias Arndt also saw it this way: “I would have given him the record.” “It breaks your heart”wrote the German ex-sprinter and former Cavendish rival Marcel Kittel on Twitter.
9th stage: Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat – Puy de Dôme over 182 km
The ninth stage on Sunday leads over 182 km from Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat to Puy de Dôme. After three moderate climbs, it goes up to Puy de Dôme at the very end, a mountain classification of the hardest category (Hors Categorie).