Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) won stage eight of Giro d’Italia 2022, After a counterattack saw the day’s favorite Matthew van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) forced to chase for the last kilometer of the race.
De Gendt hit the air to celebrate his victory, having had the lion’s share of the action in what eventually became a break for four riders.
In second place, David Gaborough (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè) ran hard in the race, followed by Jorge Arcas (Movistar). In the back, the last contestant on the successful break, Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto-Soudal), celebrated his teammate’s victory.
The 149-kilometre stage reached a thrilling final, with van der Poel and Beniam Jermay (Intermarche-Wante-Joubert Matero) seconds behind the leaders, having flown nearly 40 kilometers to go, after a day-long split. rest time.
Heading into the ninth stage, which will end on top of the Blockhaus climb, Juan Pedro López (Trek-Segafredo) continues to lead the GC, with Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) in second and Rein Taaramäe (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) in third.
Giro d’Italia 2022 Stage 8: How the race started
Stage 8 performances were short but intense. Beginning in Naples, the riders headed to Bacoli, before embarking on five laps of a 19 kilometer circuit, before returning almost to Naples for a sprint along the waterfront Via Caracciolo.
While away from a mountain race, a series of undulating climbs left little opportunity to rest in this Giro d’Italia Road 2022with a high probability that the winner will come from a reduced pool.
The attacks began from the fall of the neutral flag, with Mathieu van der Poel heavily involved in the effort to force a break. His early attacks waned, but after only 6 kilometers into the race, he was far on his own.
Not content with letting the Alpecin-Fenix rider alone off the front unchallenged, the trio of Thomas de Gendt (Loto Soudal), Andrea Vendram (AG2R Citroën Team) and Beniam Germay (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) quickly set out in pursuit.
Having a defecting specialist like De Gendt from the front of the race inspired confidence, with more riders making the move – eventually trailing a group 20 times behind Van der Poel by 10secs.
The big chase group (deep breathing) included: Guillaume Martin (Confides), Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates), Sylvain Moniquet (Loto Soudal), Harold Tejada (Team Astana Kazakhstan), David Gaborough (Bardiani – CSF – Visani), Jorge Arcas (Movistar), Mattias Skjelmose-Jensen (Trek – Segafredo), Edoardo Zardini (Drone Hopper – Androni Toys), Lillian Kalmjane (Team AG2R Citroën), Fabio Villen (Astana), Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious), Simone Ravanelli (Droni) – Androni Giocatoli), Mirko Maestri (Iolo – Komita), Gasha Suterlin (Bahrain Victorious), Mauro Schmid (Quick Step Alpha Vinyl), Samuel Revi (Iolo – Komita), Harm Vanhoek (Loto-Sodal), also as De Gendt and Girmay and Vendrame.
With 55 seconds over the peloton, the stalking group caught up to Van der Poel with 135 kilometers from the finish, and the fugitive group of 21 gained a one-minute gap with the remaining 133 kilometers mark coming.
Back in the peloton, Trek-Segafredo passengers worked hard to protect pink jacket driving Giro d’Italia 2022 StandingsJuan Pedro Lopez, but with a little help from the rest of the peloton, it was 2-07 between the two sets on the road.
The first middle race was a relatively quiet feat, with Jermay taking honors over Zardini and Schmid.
Slipping under the 100 km mark, the clutch was charging through the track at 55.7 km/h, with a speed slower than the 47.5 km/h peloton.
The break was still just over two minutes on the peloton as they made their first climb on the two kilometer Monte di Procida, a climb they had hit a total of four times, the last climb becoming a secret test. De Gendt was the first rider to reach the top, with Van der Poel continuing to lead.
Soon, the breakup had its first casualty – Sütterlin separated himself from the group of 21, collecting bottles from the team car to get back into the group – giving De Gendt/Van der Poel a selection of 20 passengers.
In the foreground, Van der Poel grabbed a bag of ice to cool himself, clear skies making it even hotter than temperatures of 22 degrees Celsius.
With 61km remaining, Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) appeared to lose his grip on the back of the peloton but was able to work his way back up once the climb was over. Meanwhile, the lead in the second half exceeded three minutes.
At a distance of 46 km, when the gap was reduced to 2-36, Van der Poel made his move, massively jumping out of the saddle with a powerful attack. In the back, the break knights were hooked, and Jeremy, Schmid, and Bulls joined in, just as Van der Poel looked over his shoulder to see who had made it to his self-appointed chief pick.
However, the attack wasn’t enough to drive away the 20 strong fleeing groups. Soon, the break is largely complete – just in time for a new move, consisting of De Gendt, Gaboro, Arcas, Ravanelli and Belgium teammate, Vanhoek.
Recording 40 kilometres, the new leaders had a 20-second run into the rest of the first half, with his time to the peloton at 3-35.
Now finding himself on the chase group, Van der Poel was hard at work up front, along with Girmay, with the rotation still failing to get close to the five up front.
To Monte de Procida again, with 35 km remaining, the leaders had 29 seconds. De Gendt was taking the lion’s share of the work, while Ravanelli backed off, reducing the leaders to four. At the rear, the power of Van der Poel results in another splinter group of 11, and De Gendt et al’s advantage regresses to 15 seconds at 33 km left.
At the top of Monte di Procida, it was De Gendt who took KOM, teammate Vanhoucke in second, and Movistar’s Arcas in third.
With the road still undulating after the covert climb, the front four increased their lead to the 11sec Van der Poel and Jermay group, to 41sec at 27km left. Further attacks reduced the pursuit group to five: Schmid, van der Poel, Jermay, Boyles and Martin. However, the gaps continued to open, with little cohesion compared to the four gaps at the front of the race.
At 23 kilometers from the finish, De Gendt’s group was 32 seconds ahead, with Van Der Poel’s group in 51s, peloton in 4-14.
Reaching the 8 km distance to reach the goal, the gap between the pursuers was constant, at 28 seconds, indicating that Van der Poel, Jermay and the rest of the pursuers had a chance at the front of the race.
Events began to unfold in the peloton, as Lennard Kämna of Bora-Hansgrohe launched an attack, but López was immediately at the wheel, revealing little appetite for losing any of the GC 38s advantage he had over Kämna at the start of the stage.
At the 2 kilometer point, Van der Poel and Jermay seem to have sent their mates, and were 9 seconds behind the top four. Upon reaching the finish race, all six riders were in sight, but the chasers wouldn’t be able to make it.
It was De Gendt who pulled out from the back of the group for a final sprint, after a lead from Vanhoucke, punched in the air after winning by a wide margin against Gabburo, with Arcas moving closer to the podium.
consequences
Giro d’Italia 2022, stage 8: from Naples to Naples (149 km)
1. Thomas de Gendt (Bill) Lotto-Sudal, 3-32-52
2. David Gaborough (ETA) Berdani – CSF – Faizanè)
3. Jorge Arcas (ESP) Movistar, at the same time
4. Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, in 4s
5. Biniam Girmay (Eri) Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux, in the 15s
6. Mauro Schmid (Sui) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl
7. Matthew van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Phoenix, at the same time
8. Water Boys (Need) Bahrain Victorious, at 35
9. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Confidis, at the same time
10. Fabio Fellin (ETA) Astana, 2-56 o’clock
General classification after the eighth stage
1. Juan Pedro Lopez (ESP) Trek Segafredo, at 15-32-31
2. Leonard Kamna (Germany) Bora-Hansgrohe, 38
3. Rein Taaramäe (East) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Materials in 58 seconds
4. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Confidis, 1-6
5. Simon Yates (GBr) BikeExchange-Jayco at 1-42
6. Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, at 1-47
7. Wilko Kieldermann (Ned) Bora Hansgrohe, 1–55
8. Joao Almeida (Bay) UAE, with a score of 1-58
9. Belo Bilbao (Spain) Bahrain Victorious, time 2-001
10. Ritchie Porte (Australia) Ineos Grenadiers, 2-4