The 8th stage of the Tour de France 2019 took place on July 13, 2019. The 200-kilometer hilly stage led from Mâcon to Saint-Étienne . The American Tejay van Garderen ( EF Education First ) did not compete due to a broken left wrist that he sustained in a fall in the previous stage . The stage start was at 12:10 p.m. at Place Lamartine on the banks of the Saône , the sharp start took place at 12:24 p.m. at the Château de Saint-Léger .
Immediately after the start, Thomas De Gendt , Ben King and Niki Terpstra began an attempt to escape. About 25 kilometers later, Alessandro De Marchi joined them, so that four drivers had run away . The lead on the field leveled off between four and five minutes. Terpstra won the intermediate sprint, Elia Viviani was first in the main field .
On the way to the Côte de la Croix de Part, De Gendt and De Marchi attacked from the leading group. King and Terpstra struggled to keep up with the pace and fell behind. At the summit of the Côte de la Croix de Part , the top duo had a lead of around 3:50 minutes on the peloton. In the penultimate mountain classification, the lead melted to just 2:40 minutes. In the main field, the sprinters as well as Dylan Teuns and Tony Gallopin repeatedly had problems and were left behind, but some drivers were able to fight their way up again and again on the descents. The Astana team and EF Education First stepped up the pace again, so that 25 kilometers from the finish, the lead of the top duo was only 1:40 minutes.
Shortly before the climb to the last mountain classification - 15 kilometers from the finish - last year's winner Geraint Thomas fell , who was brought down by Michael Woods . With the help of his teammates, however, he was able to fight his way back to the top of the main field. Meanwhile, De Gendt pulled away from De Marchi and now tried to win the stage as a soloist. A few kilometers before the summit, Julian Alaphilippe started the attack in the peloton , accompanied by Thibaut Pinot . Alaphilippe reached the summit in second, making up 5 seconds for the yellow jersey . At this moment Alaphilippe was only 1 second behind Giulio Ciccone in the overall standings .
The pursuers Alaphilippe and Pinot developed a lead of 15 seconds over the main field. De Gendt was also 15 seconds ahead of the chasing duo. 5 kilometers from the goal, the distance increased slightly. The chasing duo could not catch up with De Gendt. De Gendt crossed the finish line 6 seconds ahead. De Gendt drove the entire route in the lead and was able to win all seven mountain classifications, making him the most combative driver by the jury . Pinot finished second in the stage, Alaphilippe third - he took over the yellow jersey again. Ciccone crossed the finish line in 24th. The other wearers defended their jerseys. During the stage trip, the Frenchman Christophe Laporte had to give up the tour due to illness. At the time of his exit, he was already over 20 minutes behind the peloton.
