the Belgian Thomas De Gendt wins an eventful eighth stage in Naples, Guillaume Martin fourth in the general classification

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Great host of the stage on Saturday, the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel was trapped in the final and could not defend his chances.

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One stage on direct current. There was almost no rest for the riders during this eighth episode of the Giro, Saturday May 14, under the sun of Naples. When the pace is high, there is one who likes it: Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal). A great specialist in victorious breakaways, the Belgian raised his arms after a big blow of force in the last 30 kilometers, in particular with his sidekick Harm Vanhoucke. The Walloon was ahead in a powerful sprint of the Italian Davide Gabburo (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè) and the Spaniard Jorge Arcas (Movistar). Juan Padro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo) keeps his pink jersey.

To win, you didn’t have to be the strongest, but the smartest. Thomas De Gendt won because he managed to trap the leader of this breakaway, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix). The Dutch star, the first pink jersey of this Giro, attacked alone from the start of this eighth stage. Joined by several riders, he was then the first attacker in the breakaway 45 km from the goal, ahead of Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) and Mauro Schmid (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl), before being caught. He eventually finished seventh.

The Frenchman Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) pointed the tip of his nose by mingling with the good breakaway of the day. Disappointed after losing time in the general standings at the top of Etna, the Norman quickly recovered with a good stage (9th at 33 seconds from the winner). He tried to hold on to the successive attacks of “VDP”, took three minutes from the pink jersey peloton and moved back to fourth place overall, one minute and six seconds behind Juan Pedro Lopez.

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