Visma | Lease a Bike is not ignoring Sunday’s Tour stage: "It depends on the wind, we need to be alert"

Before the stage, Van Aert announced that he would not be sprinting. "It came as no surprise to us that Wout sprinted," Niermann knew better. "He wanted to try to compete in this difficult uphill sprint. Wout rode a great sprint, but Milan was stronger. So we can live with this second place."

“Wout is improving steadily, although this was also a fairly easy stage in terms of effort,” the sports director continued. “He wanted to go for it in this uphill sprint, and that's what we did. We always want to win, but second was the best we could do today.” Jonas Vingegaard reaffirmed this sentiment in a brief response to NOS: "It's great that Wout finished second, although a win would have been even better."

"It was very nervous and not a great finish, with that stretch right through Laval in the final," said Niermann, who saw his leader Vingegaard finish safely. “In the end, we got through it well. We want to be at the front with Jonas in that phase, and we achieved that, which requires a lot of energy. And I saw a lot of guys crash, so that makes it worthwhile.”

The Tour is now eight days old, and Visma | Lease a Bike has made one mistake, according to Niermann. “We have a very strong team. Unfortunately, we haven't won in this Tour yet, but we've come close a few times. The time trial definitely didn't unfold as we wanted, but we're definitely ready to fight, and we're in a very good position.”

Vingegaard also looked fresh after the eighth stage. "It was a quiet day, although I didn't necessarily need it. I think a lot of other guys in the peloton were tired, so it was a nice day for them. I'm glad I made it to the finish safely because it was a hectic finale today."

On Sunday, there will be another sprint stage to Chateauroux, followed by the first mountain stage to Puy de Sancy on Monday. "Monday will be a tough stage. On Sunday, we'll have to see what the wind does and get through it, so we need to be alert. Will we try something on Monday? We'll see."