Tour de France: “Knüppelhart”: Ackermann at Milan’s victory in fourth place

With a widely torn jersey, Pascal Ackermann stood in the heat from Laval in the finish area and exuded confidence despite fourth place. “The legs are quite good, it was a real strength sprint. I was in the top 4 and the three before me are not weak people,” said Ackermann and announced the next start to his first stage win at the Tour de France: “That was the first sprint I could really drive. I always got out at the back, why shouldn’t it be like this time?”

On Saturday against 2000 watt man Jonathan Milan had no chance. The Italian ended his personal tour misery in the heat of Laval and won his first day of the day with the victory on the eighth stage on the tour of the France. After 171.4 kilometers of the Belgian Woout van Aert and the Australian Kaden GroVes landed in places in second and then after 171.4 kilometers.

Ackermann: “Tomorrow is the next chance”

“I lost my driver too early. I really got back to his bike. There was no more in today. It was a sticky hardness,” said Ackermann in the ARD. He has already won three victories at the Giro d’Italia and two successes at the Vuelta – only his tour dream has so far been unfulfilled.

Last year the Palatinate sprinted in third place three times. “Everyone knows that it is that I have been waiting for for a long time. Tomorrow is the next chance. There are at least three chances,” added the sprinter.

Quiet day for the favorites

The favorites for the overall victory, however, were able to protect their strength after the recent hardships. Tadej Pogacar rolled over the finish line in the main field and effortlessly defended his yellow jersey. The Slovenian world champion, who already won two stages on this year, is 54 seconds in front of the Belgian double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel.

Pogacar’s largest rival Jonas Vingegaard is fourth with 1:17 minutes behind. Germany’s hopeful Florian Lipowitz hope remains eighth with 3:02 minutes behind.

Pogacar even had time on the way to find out more about women after the result of his fiancee Urska Zigart at the Giro d’Italia. Her seventh place was the best result in Pogacar, at least on Saturday.

The day for Jonas Rutsch was not so stress -free. The Erbacher fell violently 19 kilometers before the finish. Slide initially remained motionless, but then continued the journey and reached the goal with almost 14 minutes behind.

On Saturday, the Sprinter used some of their few chances of a mass arrival before going to the mountains in the coming week. And Milan came to the train for the first time. The four-time Giro-Tappei winner, which reaches top values of up to 1965 watts, lived up to his favorite role this time and also brought back the green jersey of Tadej Pogacar.

Milan: “deserved it”

“I have not yet understood what we have done. There were some expectations to take some dreams. But bringing them home, they are two different things,” said Milan: “But we deserve it. The level is so high here. I am so happy. The victory means a lot.”

For the 24-year-old, the tour until the sprint in Laval was anything but desired. On the second stage, the Bahnrad Olympic champion from 2021 had stopped a fall. In between, Milan, whose role model was Marcel Kittel, had also delivered a verbal duel with Biniam Girmay from Eritrea.

The pressure was great on Milan. His Lidl Trek team relies entirely on the man from Tolmezzo this year. But even Mads Pedersen, who won four stages at Giro, stayed at home. The ex-world champion will only go hunting stages at the Vuelta.

Another sprint on Sunday can be expected. On the ninth stage over 174.1 kilometers from Chinon to Chateauroux, it goes over completely flat terrain.