Tour de France result: Julian Alaphilippe regains yellow jersey as Thomas De Gendt wins dramatic stage eight

Julian Alaphilippe regained the yellow jersey ahead of Bastille Day as Thomas De Gendt won a thrilling stage eight of the Tour de France.

De Gendt led a four-man breakaway from the start of the stage and attacked in the final 14km to clinch a typically opportunistic victory by the break specialist.

Alaphilippe set off in pursuit, along with fellow French rider Thibaut Pinot, and the pair finished six seconds behind De Gendt as they powered clear of a pack of GC contenders including Geraint Thomas, who came in together around half a minute back.

Team Ineos were held up by a crash within their own group in the final throes, which briefly saw Thomas off his bike, but they regathered themselves and reconnected with the chasing bunch in time to limit the damage as the action unfurled ahead.

For the race organisers ASO this was vindication for the type of Tour de France they had hoped to deliver when they designed a route with plenty of category two and three climbs and fewer hors categorie brutes. In complete contrast to the dull sprint stage seven, and even more entertaining than the brutal mountain climb of La Planche des Belles Filles on stage six, this provided drama in spades.

The bonus seconds which were very deliberately attached to the final climb of the day brought Alaphilippe and Pinot to the fore, and their attempt to hunt down De Gendt gripped a packed crowd in St Etienne after 200 gruelling kilometres covering seven medium categorised climbs in all.

For Alaphilippe it was the perfect result, reclaiming yellow in time for France’s national day in thrilling fashion as he rode with guts and took risks on the final descent. He may not have the climbing legs to succeed in the Alps and Pyrenees to come, but there is not doubt he has been the best rider of this opening week or so.

However, Pinot’s time gain could turn out to be more significant for the bigger picture of who wins this year’s Tour. He is a real threat to Thomas and the rest of the GC riders and is now third overall, 19 seconds ahead of the Welshman, who is fifth. Like Alaphilippe, second-placed Giulio Ciccone is unlikely to be involved in the Alps, leaving Pinot as the effective general classification leader.

The man between Pinot and Thomas overall, in fourth place, is George Bennett, and his Jumbo-Visma team now have two cards to play with the potential to challenge using the Kiwi as well as their original team leader, Steven Kruijswijk, who is a further 20 seconds back in seventh.

Vincenzo Nibali fell away from the main group and was pictured struggling badly, and he now looks unlikely to repeat his 2014 triumph here, while riders like Romain Bardet and Fabio Aru are also more than three minutes behind the yellow jersey and are unlikely to recover the deficit over the next two weeks.

Sunday’s stage nine is another lumpy road to Brioude and could see more unpredictable racing, with an early category one climb likely to break up the peloton. If it is half the battle of this stage eight, it will be fun to watch.