Wout Van Aert, who is looking for a stage win in the 2023 Tour de France, made a mistake in the final of stage 8 and dropped back to third in Limoges, and will be in contention for the win in the second week of the race.

The Belgian finished second in Saint-Sebastien and fifth in Bayonne early in the race, but instead of two wins in the opening eight days of 2020 and 2022, he will continue his search for victory after the first rest day on Monday.

After a long, hot day of racing through the hills of the Dordogne region and Haute-Vienne, Van Aert said it was his own fault for not contending for victory in the uphill finish at the end of the 200km stage.

"I messed up there," he told the press packed outside the Jumbo-Visma bus after the warm-down.

"It's always frustrating when you don't finish the job of the team. I made the mistake of waiting too long when Mathieu (Van der Pol) and Jasper (Philipsen) went for (Christophe) Laporte's stop."

Van Aert took over the steering of his French teammate in the last kilometer of the stage and was ready to sprint at 350 meters when Laporte slowed. With Laporte slowing down, Van Aert was ready to sprint at 350 meters, but instead of being on the right side of the barrier, Van Aert was on the left side, surrounded by the Alpecin-Desseuninck duo.

With stage winner Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) passing on the right side and Laporte unable to break away, Van Aert was forced to brake and dropped behind Dylan Groenewegen.

"The other riders were a little quicker than expected," Van Aert said. Christophe Laporte was pulling away and he thought I was going to pass him on the right, but I was on his left. Then I had to brake and I lost time in the sprint. It was my own fault."

"I was the fastest, and I cut 10 lengths off," he added, but his closing speed in passing Grünevegen may have been enough to earn him his 10th career Tour de France victory.

He said the team did everything right during the stage, including supporting the hard racing in the hilly terrain that filled the last 70 km of the day. The only unpleasantness was the dash to the finish line.

"I think the Tour de France group is super strong," he said. But we wanted to make it a hard race so we could take advantage in the sprint. I think we did everything right.

Going forward, Van Aat confirmed that he will not only work for the team and race leader Jonas Vingegaard, but also "wipe out zero" in the Tour, aiming for a stage win as he has done in the past.

"The battle for yellow has been important from day one, and the team is strong enough to be in contention for stage wins," he said. 'Of course I'll keep working for Jonas, but I'm also here to win and I want to wipe out those zeros. Every day is a new opportunity, and that's as it should be. At the moment, it seems like every day is a tool for 'not quite there yet' and that's a shame."

Pedersen won his second Tour stage win in two years on this stage as Simon Yates and Mikkel Landa lost 47 seconds in a late crash.

Mark Cavendish, who was aiming for a record 35th stage win in his last Tour appearance, fell one step short of Eddy Merckx and will retire at the end of the season.

Most riders who were mic'd up at the end of the stage were no doubt asked about their crashes.

"This is the first I've heard of it. I'm sorry. It's a shame." Jasper said yesterday that he still has the ability to win a stage. Also, it would have been nice if he could have finished the race here in style instead of crashing out.

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