Second stage victory in this Tour de France 2022 for Wout van Aert this Saturday in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he achieved a masterful uphill sprint to get ahead of the unfortunate Michael Matthews (42nd second place in his career) and the yellow jersey Tadej Pogacar.
Already victorious last Tuesday in Calais, van Aert once once more showed off his qualities as a puncher, already on display brilliantly since the start of this Grande Boucle.
Determined to play its own card during the pre-race interviews, WVA had good reason to be confident. On the last hill of the day, the Côte du Stade Olympique de Lausanne (4.9 km at 4.5% with a passage of 12%), the Belgian remained perfectly placed in the first positions following the forcing of the UAE Emirates team. Somewhat confined during a final packing reserved for a handful of resistance fighters, van Aert was finally able to find the breach in the last tens of meters to win comfortably.
This is the 8th stage victory on the Tour de France (+1 team time trial) for Wout van Aert, even more green jersey with his 264 points accumulated, 115 more than his runner-up Fabio Jakobsen.
Third in the stage and once once more in sight, Tadej Pogacar keeps his yellow jersey at the end of this stage who will have seen him fall following a few kilometers. Courageous of the day, the Belgian Frederik FrisonItalian Mattia Cattaneo and the British Fred Wright saw their offensive halted near the last hill.
On Sunday, the 9th stage will connect Aigle to Châtel les Portes du Soleil over 192.9 km. A last stage before the rest day which should suit escapees and climbers with in particular two 1st category climbs – the Col de la Croix (8km at 7.5%), and the Pas de Morgins (15.4km at 6, 2%) – to precede the final 4 km ramp that will lead the peloton towards the finish.
