Wout van Aert's search for a stage victory at the 2023 Tour de France will extend in the race's second week after a mistake in the final of stage 8 saw him battle back to third place in Limoges.
The Belgian had finished second in San Sébastián and fifth in Bayonne earlier in the race, but rather than the quick starts he enjoyed in 2020 and 2022 with two wins in the opening eight days, he'll keep searching for the win beyond the first rest day on Monday.
Speaking after a long, hot day out through the Dordogne and hills of Haute-Vienne, Van Aert said that it was his fault that he couldn't contest the win on the uphill finish at the end of the 200km stage.
"I screwed it up myself there," he told the packed press ranks outside the Jumbo-Visma bus after warming down. "It's always frustrating when you can't finish the team's work. I made an error in waiting too long when Mathieu [van der Poel] and Jasper [Philipsen] went as [Christophe] Laporte stopped."
Van Aert was in the wheel of his French teammate in the final kilometre of the stage and was all ready to sprint at the 350-metre mark as Laporte slowed. However, rather than being on the right side by the barriers, Van Aert was on the left, boxed in by the Alpecin-Deceuninck duo.
With nowhere to go as stage winner Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) blasted past on the right and with Laporte unable to get out of the way, Van Aert was forced to brake and drop back behind Dylan Groenewegen – coming up on Philipsen's wheel – before recovering in the final metres to salvage third place.
"The others went a little earlier than expected," Van Aert said. "Christophe Laporte dropped away and he expected me to pass him on the right, but I was on the left of his wheel. Then I had to brake, and I came up short in the sprint. That's my own fault.
"I was the fastest and I made up 10 lengths," he added, his closing speed which brought him past Groenewegen was perhaps enough to propel him to a 10th career Tour de France stage win.
He said that his team had done everything right during the stage, including helping to make the race hard over the hills that filled the final 70km of the day. The only sour note was the execution in the dash to the line.
"I think the bunch in the Tour de France is super strong, so we expected that there would still be a lot of guys," Van Aert said of the final. "But we also wanted to make the race hard so it's in my favour in the sprint. I have the feeling we did everything right, but I accept [the blame] myself."
Going forward, Van Aert confirmed that he'll continue to seek a stage win and "wipe that zero away" in addition to working for team and race leader Jonas Vingegaard, as he has done so far in the Tour.
"The fight for yellow has been important since day one and the team is strong enough to combine that with battling for stage victories," he said. "We'll of course continue to work for Jonas, but I also hope to wipe that zero away because I'm also here to win. Every day is a new chance and that's just as well. For now, every day is a bit like the Tour of 'not quite' and that's a shame."
The stage, which saw Pedersen dash to his second Tour stage win in as many years as GC men Simon Yates and Mikel Landa lost 47 seconds to a late crash, was marked by the withdrawal of Astana Qazaqstan sprinter Mark Cavendish, who went down in the peloton with 60km to run.
The Manxman, who was chasing a record-breaking 35th Tour stage victory in his final participation, is now set to retire at the end of the season without going one clear of Eddy Merckx.
Most riders with a microphone in front of them at the end of the stage will have no doubt been asked a question about his crash and it was no different for Van Aert, even if he hadn't heard about it before being asked.
"It's the first thing I heard about it. It's a shame," he said. "I'm sorry to hear that. Jasper said yesterday that he showed that he still has it in him to get that stage win so that's a shame for sure. Also, it would've been nice for him to finish it off in style here instead of crashing out of the race, so it's shit."
