Biniam Girmay of Eritrea secured his second victory during the eighth stage of the Tour de France, even as Tadej Pogacar held on to the coveted yellow jersey. The challenging stage spanned 183.4km, leading to Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises, the former residential and ultimate burial place of Charles de Gaulle. It was initially expected that a breakaway would occur, but instead the race ended with a lesser pack sprinting up a gradient leading to the finish line.
Cyclists such as Mark Cavendish and Dylan Groenewegen were rendered ineffective by this terrain, but Girmay, who’d already forged a path in history earlier in the week by being the first Black African to triumph on a Tour stage, seemed in his element. He magnified his lead as the point classification leader in the process.
Bryan Coquard began his sprint earlier on, some 200 metres out, but that was premature. This gave Girmay the ideal chance to stay on his wheel. Meanwhile, as Jasper Philipsen attempted to get ahead, Girmay effectively responded, narrowly defeating the Belgian.
Earnestly appreciating his victories, Girmay gave credit to divine providence and his family for their support in his journey to becoming a professional cyclist. He confessed that he relished the terrain toward the finish line, stating it was conducive to his strengths.
He stated his preference for this style of sprint – conducive for lighter guys like him, over flatter terrains, where the larger, heavier riders tend to dominate. He added that his team provided him with the perfect lead which aided his victory, even though he had initially struggled with the adverse weather. Later, with better conditions, Girmay pulled off an excellent sprint to secure his victory.
The top of the general classification remained the same after the sprint finish and ahead of the upcoming stage with 14 gravel sections surrounding Troyes on Sunday. Pogacar continues his lead with a 33-second gap from Remco Evenepoel, while defending champion Jonas Vingegaard is trailing 75 seconds behind.
As the race commenced from Semur-en-Auxois that morning, a significant breakout on the road was anticipated due to the rolling hills in the north-eastern part of France. EF Education-EasyPost initially showed momentum at the start but eventually pulled back, leaving Jonas Abrahamsen of Uno-X Mobility alone in the lead to extend his king of the mountains points.
The Norwegian rider managed to maintain his position at the front for a radius of 170km on his own. However, his six-minute lead did not seem considerable enough to ward off a driven peloton and he was eventually caught approximately 15km before the end.
Nevertheless, a sombre mood lingered over the post-stage events following the loading news about the tragic passing of Norwegian cyclist Andre Drege. Drege had a fatal accident on the Grossglockner descent during the penultimate stage of the Tour of Austria. The 25-year-old cyclist, who had secured seven wins this season and was one step ahead of Abrahamsen in the last month’s national road race in Norway, was speculated to ascend to the WorldTour level by 2025.
The international governing body released a statement expressing their grief about the loss of professional cyclist Andre Drege in the Tour of Austria, conveying condolences to his family, friends, and teammates.