Jonathan Milan ends years-long Italian drought at Tour de France - Wout van Aert and Kaden Groves second and third
Cycling
Lidl-Trek came to the Tour de France with a full leadout backing up Jonathan Milan, but that didn't translate into a win until stage 8. The green jersey won the uphill sprint into Laval with Wout van Aert in his wheel.
The opening stage of this weekend featured some headwind and no climbs in the profile for the most part, and so once again there was no breakaway attempt early in the day. Lidl-Trek and Intermarché - Wanty agreed to share duties in the peloton not to let the race move at training speed.
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It wasn't until 82 kilometers to go that action truly started on the day as Mattéo Vercher and Mathieu Burgaudeau of TotalEnergies hit the front and formed a front group that would go on to resist until the final 9 kilometers. The French team had the spotlight during most of the final two hours of racing but it wasn't hard for the peloton to reel them in.
The speed was incredibly high into Laval as the peloton had to cross the city before hitting the final sprint. Tim Merlier suffered a badly-timed mechanical but returned to the peloton in time for the sprint.
The sprint was very chaotic as almost no-one had a leadout into the final kilometer and it led to many movements. Inside the final kilometer Jonathan Milan jumped around from wheel to wheel and found himself following Kaden Groves who had Mathieu van der Poel leading him out. The Italian looked to have spent a lot of energy, but ultimately launched his sprint at the right time and stormed to a dominant win. Wout van Aert was the only rider able to follow the wheel, whilst Groves resisted to finish third on the day.
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Fin MajorCycling Journalist
Fin Major is a UK-based writer at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2024. He is the site’s main writer for FAQs and evergreen explainers and has written around 2,000 pieces for the platform. Alongside this work, he focuses on in-depth analysis and covers the biggest races on the calendar, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, providing clear context around performance trends, tactics, and key storylines.
In his reporting, Fin uses reputable data sources such as ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available. Outside of writing, Fin is an active cyclist, which supports his practical understanding of the sport and its demands.
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- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
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Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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