An Inspiring Ride by Thomas De Gendt!

There is neither a rider nor a team that I'm rooting for in this year's Tour de France.  But there are stages like today's Stage 8 when it's impossible for me to stay neutral.  Thomas De Gendt was awe inspiring today.  The 32-year-old Belgian broke away early in the race.  He and Italian cyclist Alessandro De Marchi cooperated for much of the race, and when De Marchi nearly crashed and nearly took out De Gendt (click on image for a larger view),

cooperation continued after De Marchi caught up with De Gendt inside of 60 km (37 mi) left in the stage.  But on the final category-3 climb, De Marchi could no longer stay with De Gendt.  I caught the screen capture below when I saw De Gendt look back, perhaps thinking he was going to have to win it alone (click on image for a larger view).

I was then pulling hard for De Gendt to make it to the finish line without being caught.  And he didn't disappoint!  Check him out full of joy as he's won the stage (click on image for a larger view).

You can see Thibaut Pinot and Julian Alaphilippe, who came in second and third, respectively, in the background after they valiantly tried to catch De Gendt.  I was hoping De Gendt would sneak in under 5 hours, but I was nearly yelping with how good our prediction turn out.

• Stage 08:  5h 00' 17" (actual), 4h 55' 42" (prediction), 04' 35" fast (-1.53% error)

After yesterday's disastrous prediction, I would have been happy with 5% today.  But I'm thrilled our model performed much better than 5%.  Our model has had lots of ups and downs so far.  The yellow jersey has had some back and forth, too.  Alaphilippe wrested the yellow jersey from Giulio Ciccone, who now sits 23" behind Alaphilippe.  Pinot is 53" back in third place.  Can a French rider take the Tour de France for the first time since Bernard Hinault won in 1985?

Check out De Gendt's impressive average speed below.

• Stage 08:  11.10 m/s (39.96 kph or 24.83 mph)

Tomorrow's 170.5-km (105.9-mi) hilly stage picks up where today's stage ended, in Saint-Étienne.  Riders won't have to any more traveling today!  One category-1 climb and two category-3 climbs greet riders on their way to the commune of Brioude.  They will mostly go west, but a little south, too.  Our prediction is given below.

• Stage 09:  3h 56' 42" (prediction)

I'll probably do tomorrow what I did this morning, and that's hope a rider gets in under the closest hour mark.