Dylan Groenewegen wins second straight Tour de France stage with sprint finish in Amiens
Last Updated: 16/07/18 8:54am
Dylan Groenewegen doubled up at the Tour de France as he won stage eight on Bastille Day in Amiens.
The Dutchman made it two wins in as many days following stage seven success in Chartres as he held off Andre Greipel and Fernando Gaviria at the end of the 181km trek from Dreux.
Greipel and Gaviria were later relegated for irregular sprinting after clashing in the final hundred metres, which elevated Peter Sagan to second and John Degenkolb to third, with Mark Cavendish credited with eighth place.
Most of the general classification contenders crossed the line in the main bunch to hold station, but UAE Team Emirates' Dan Martin lost 75 seconds after being caught in a crash with 17km to go.
The Irishman, winner of stage six on the Mur-de-Bretagne, was one of several riders to fall, with Quick-Step Floors' Julian Alaphilippe and Tom Skujins in the polka-dot jersey also caught out.
Martin, with blood pouring from his elbow, quickly set off in pursuit of the peloton with several team-mates to help.
They got within 30 seconds but as the paced ramped up at the front the gap soon began to grow again, leaving Martin to rue an expensive tumble.
Dimension Data's Cavendish, seeking to reverse a frustrating first week of this Tour, was on the wheel of world champion Sagan as the pack took a left-hander on to the finishing straight.
But he lost the wheel as Sagan launched his sprint early and could not find another opening, although Sagan would regret going as early as he did as he faded in the final 100 metres and finished fourth.
BMC's Greg Van Avermaet retained the yellow jersey, and extended his lead by one second to seven over Team Sky's Geraint Thomas after nicking third place on the bonus sprint.
Stage eight:
1 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 4:23:36
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
3 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
4 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
5 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
6 Thomas Boudat (Fra) Direct Energie
7 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb
8 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data
9 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
10 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
General Classification:
1 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 32:43:00
2 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky +7s
3 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team +9s
4 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors +16s
5 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors 22s
6 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale +49s
7 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team +55s
8 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe +56s
9 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team +57s
10 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team +57s
