Jonathan Milan Ends Italian Victory Drought in Tour de France Stage Eight

Laval, France – Jonathan Milan captured his first Tour de France stage victory on Saturday, ending a six-year drought for Italian riders. The Lidl-Trek cyclist sprinted to the finish, overcoming breakaway duo Mattéo Vercher and Mathieu Burgaudeau, who were caught with nine kilometers to go.

The defending champion, Tadej Pogacar, retained his yellow jersey as the peloton tackled one of the Tour’s flattest stages. Milan, inspired by the novella “Jonathan Livingston Seagull,” crossed the finish line on Boulevard Pierre Elain ahead of Wout van Aert, a teammate of Jonas Vingegaard.

“To come with expectations and bring it home, that’s two different things,” said Milan, celebrating his triumph after 113 stages without an Italian win. “It means a lot for me, it means a lot for my country.”

The eighth stage was characterized by a heatwave, casting a tranquil atmosphere among the riders. As they geared up for the mountains of Massif Central, a temporary truce appeared to settle the anticipatory tensions in the peloton.

Vingegaard engaged in friendly conversation with João Almeida, Pogacar’s key support for upcoming mountain stages, inquiring about his recovery from a previous crash. However, tensions simmered beneath the surface after past confrontations, particularly when Pogacar criticized the way team dynamics unfolded in the feed zone. “Sometimes you have to be patient when you’re taking the bottles and pay respect to everybody,” he stated.

In response, Vingegaard’s sports director, Grischa Niermann, suggested adjustments to their feeding protocols. “Maybe we should tell our soigneurs to stand a little bit further apart from each other,” he quipped. Almeida’s health remains a concern, as Pogacar noted, “It’s one thing finishing today, with a lot of pain and suffering. He’s a true warrior, but Monday is a really brutal stage.”

Ineos Grenadiers, meanwhile, struggled to assert themselves in the competition. Team leader Carlos Rodríguez sits nearly five minutes behind Pogacar, though Geraint Thomas maintains a positive outlook toward the challenging mountain stages ahead. “We haven’t done any big mountains yet and that’s his strength,” Thomas remarked.

As the first mountain stage looms on Monday, Sunday’s ninth stage from Chinon to Châteauroux offers another opportunity for sprinters before the challenging terrain ahead. Pogacar leads the overall standings by 54 seconds over Remco Evenepoel of Soudal-Quick-Step.