Welcome to VeloVoices’ Stage 8 recap, powered by Vanilla Coca Cola, COVID-19, and Fever Dreams of Extra Thick Milkshakes. In what can only be described as an ultimate showing of power, talent, and general beardedness, Lotto-Soudal’s Thomas De Gendt took his second-ever Giro d’Italia stage win out of a small breakaway group. After nearly single-handedly pulling his companions clear of an eager chase group that featured Alpecin-Fenix’s Mathieu Van der Poel and Bini Girmay (Wanty-Intermarche), De Gendt crossed the line ahead of Davide Gabburo (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè) and Jorge Arcas (Movistar). Harm Vanhoucke, De Gendt’s teammate, finished fourth, arms raised in celebration.

There was no change of the jerseys and very little change in the GC, other than Mr. Guillaume “Philosopher” Martin catapulting himself 24 places up to fourth overall after a day in the breakaway, cutting his deficit of 4.06 at the start of the stage by 3 full minutes. Trek’s Juan Pedro Lopez maintains the maglia rosa for at least one more day.

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