Jonathan Milan won his maiden Tour de France stage win with a hard-fought victory on a difficult uphill sprint finish on stage eight.
The Lidl-Trek rider beat Wout van Aert and Kaden Groves to the line at the end of a 172km run from Saint-Meen-le-Grand to Laval, in the Pays de la Loire region, becoming the first Italian to win a stage of the Tour since Vincenzo Nibali won on stage 20 in 2019.
The flat parcours discouraged any potential breakway, with the TotalEnergies pair of Mathieu Burgaudeau and Matteo Vercher making a late attempt but brought back with ease ahead of the expected sprint finish.
The Tour continues tomorrow with the second of a double-header of sprint stages - two more opportunities for the fast men in a Tour with very few of them.
Follow all the action with our liveblog below:
Tour de France 2025 Stage 8 - LIVE
- Stage 7 recap: Tadej Pogacar outsprints Jonas Vingegaard for stage win and takes overall lead
- Stage 8: 172km from Saint-Meen-le-Grand to Laval | Live on TNT Sports and ITV4
- Jonathan Milan wins maiden Tour de France stage with sprint in Laval
- Stage 8 route map and profile
- How to watch the Tour de France 2025
- REPORT: Jonathan Milan beats out Wout van Aert to snatch first Tour de France stage win
Jonathan Milan beats out Wout van Aert to snatch first Tour de France stage win
17:06 , Jack RathbornJonathan Milan claimed his first career Tour de France stage win as he beat Wout van Aert and Kaden Groves in an uphill sprint in Laval.
Milan, 24, had lost his lead-out men on the technical finish to the 171.4km stage from Saint-Meen-le-Grand but surfed the wheels before holding off the late charge of Van Aert.
The Italian won in the green jersey he was wearing on behalf of overall leader Tadej Pogacar, but the victory means he will wear it on Sunday by rights as he moved to the top of the points classification.
Pogacar enjoyed a relatively easy day in yellow, content to sit further down in the peloton, as the sprinters had only their third opportunity of the Tour and first since Monday - albeit on a slight uphill drag to the line that made it one for the more powerful among them.
"I don't still understand what we did," said Milan, remarkably the first Italian stage winner since Vincenzo Nibali in 2019. "To come with some expectations, some dreams, but then to bring them home is two different things, but I was confident with the team.
Jonathan Milan beats out Wout van Aert to snatch first Tour de France stage win
Milan takes green jersey
16:50 , Flo CliffordMilan now leads the green jersey standings by right, having overhauled Tadej Pogacar with this win.
1) Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) 192 pts
2) Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) 156 pts
3) Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) 124 pts
4) Mathieu van der Poel (Ned/Alpecin-Deceuninck) 108 pts
5) Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) 93 pts
First Italian Tour stage winner since 2019
16:44 , Flo CliffordVincenzo Nibali was the last Italian rider to win a Tour stage, on stage 20 in 2019, which feels a crazy statistic given their cycling calibre.
“Winning with this jersey on my shoulder means a lot for me and for my country,” Milan says, when told this stat. “I’m really happy with the result and I’ll try and bring more home.”
'Dreams to bring home' - Jonathan Milan
16:39 , Flo CliffordA shell-shocked but very happy Jonathan Milan speaks to Eurosport. “I think I still don’t understand what we did,” he says. “To come with some expectations and dreams to bring home, then to bring them home is two different things. But I was confident with the team, we were really close in the last stage [on stage three], we know that we just went a bit too early. But today we were really focused, really believing in it, my guys did an amazing job until the final.
“It was a really tough final, I have to say a bit stressful, I was not expecting to struggle up so much in the last kilometre and a half. I knew that I had to wait as long as I could. But I like these kind of finals. Really happy for the work that we did, we deserve it.”
He is asked whether the sheer difficulty of winning a Tour stage means that he can’t believe his achievement. “I think so. The level is so high, everyone is looking and will deserve one, so I’m really happy for all of us for this result. Now let’s try to rest as much as possible tonight and try again tomorrow. “
General classification after stage eight
16:35 , Flo Clifford1) Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in 29:48:30
2) Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) +54”
3) Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) +1’11”
4) Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1’17”
5) Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +1’29”
6) Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1’34”
7) Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL) +2’49”
8) Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +3’02”
9) Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +3’06”
10) Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +3’43”
Merlier, Girmay distanced
16:31 , Flo CliffordBiniam Girmay finished 19th in the end, unable to make an impact in that final sprint, with Merlier ultimately dropping off and finishing 56th, 23 seconds down.
The European champion did well to drag himself back into contention after that late mechanical, but clearly didn’t have the legs after that effort.
Stage eight results
16:28 , Flo Clifford1) Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), in 3:50:26
2) Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike)
3) Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
4) Pascal Ackermann (Israel Premier Tech)
5) Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Caps)
6) Tobias Lund Andresen (Picnic PostNL)
7) Bryan Coquard (Cofidis)
8) Alberto Dainese (Tudor Pro Cycling)
9) Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost)
10) Stian Fredheim (Uno X-Mobility), all at same time
ProCyclingStats note, slightly passive-aggressively, that Wout van Aert has now amassed 48 second places.
Lidl-Trek on top
16:25 , Flo Clifford“He deserved this so much and all the boys do,” Milan’s teammate Mattias Skjelmose - wearing a Lidl-branded nose strip, which apparently his partner’s little sister designed - tells Eurosport.
Lidl-Trek on top
16:21 , Flo CliffordThat was Mads Pedersen-like by Milan, winning on the kind of uphill finish the Dane excels on. Lidl-Trek really have an embarrassment of riches sprinting-wise.
Jonathan Milan wins stage eight!
16:17 , Flo CliffordThat was a brilliant sprint by Jonathan Milan and it’s a maiden Tour de France stage win for the Italian, a huge, enormous engine of a man.
He lost his lead-out in a very messy approach to that sprint but surfed the wheels, latched onto Van der Poel’s impressive leadout, and overcame Alpecin’s Kaden Groves.
Van Aert did well to move all the way up into second, but couldn’t come round Milan.
Jonathan Milan wins stage eight!
16:15 , Flo CliffordMilan has lost his final leadout man. He’s on the wheel of Groves, on the wheel of van der Poel leading out... the green jersey opens up his sprint but van Aert is there - but no-one can come round Milan!
1km to go
16:15 , Flo CliffordFlamme rouge taken and now it rises to the line... Tudor are on the front for Alberto Dainese, Groupama-FDJ are moving to the front...
Groves loses position
16:14 , Flo Clifford1.8km to go: First chicane done, they cross the River Mayenne, one more roundabout to go and then it heads uphill.
Kaden Groves just touched Jonathan Milan’s wheel and lost two positions as he swerved to avoid a crash!
Nervy finale approaching
16:12 , Flo Clifford2.9km to go: Like any sprint finish this is becoming more stressful by the minute. The riders are in a washing machine as they all fight for the best line. Alpecin and Lidl are best-placed as they head onto a very large roundabout, with one more to come.
5km mark reached
16:10 , Flo Clifford4.4km to go: The GC teams can breathe a sigh of relief as they go under the 5km to go mark.
Jordi Meeus has dropped off the back and definitely will not contest the sprint, with Bora riding for Danny van Poppel instead.
Lidl-Trek dislodged
16:09 , Flo Clifford5.6km to go: The riders swing right onto a narrower road lined up against the Mayenne river. Tudor and Jayco have some riders at the front now, Alpecin are in prime position, but Lidl-Trek have ground to make up.
Girmay is on his own, floating around the middle.
Wout van Aert gearing up for sprint?
16:07 , Flo Clifford7.3km to go: Wout van Aert has latched onto the Alpecin lead-out train - does the Belgian fancy the uphill finish today?
Tudor, Visma, Cofidis, Lidl-Trek, and Alpecin are lined up across the road. Biniam Girmay is sat on the back of the Lidl train.
The road narrows now and there isn’t much room to move up, and plenty of obstructive road furniture too.
Mechanical for Penhoet
16:04 , Flo Clifford9.5km to go: Paul Penhoet, the French sprinter for Groupama-FDJ, also has a mechanical and needs some assistance, and that’s him done for the day most likely.
Merlier also doesn’t have the advantage of an entire team dedicated to his leadout, with Soudal Quick-Step also needing to keep GC hopeful Remco Evenepoel safe.
Tim Merlier has mechanical
16:03 , Flo Clifford11km to go: Tim Merlier needs a bike change! The European champion has a mechanical and needs a quick bike change, but that’s dire timing for the Belgian, with a chase on his hands now and the peloton gearing up for the sprint. The uphill drag to the line may well be too much for him anyway, but this won’t help matters.
Burgaudeau, unsurprisingly, has won the prix de la combativite, for his two attacking moves today, and now Vercher drops off to leave his teammate out in front alone.
Breakaway onto the climb
15:58 , Flo Clifford15km to go: The breakaway are onto the categorised climb, the cat-four Cote de Nuille-sur-Vicoin. 900m long at just shy of 4%, it’s not long but has a bit of a kick to it.
The speeds went up a notch as the peloton fought for position going into the climb, with Pogacar still well down position-wise.
Burgaudeau takes the single point uncontested over Vercher.
Only 43” behind, the peloton roll over the top of the climb with ease, and I think that was trumpeted a little bit more than was warranted in the lead-up to this stage. All the sprinters are present and accounted for and their teams are fighting for control now.
Rutsch crashes
15:54 , Flo Clifford17km to go: Oh no, Jonas Rutsch of Intermarche-Wanty has hit the deck at high speed and rolled into the verge at the side of the road, and that looks really rather painful. Einer Rubio of Movistar went straight over the top of him but is back up and pedalling quickly.
But poor Rutsch is being checked over, he’s walking and talaking and seems keen to carry on. Let’s hope they carry out the concussion protocol and make the right decision there.
Where's Pogacar?
15:52 , Flo Clifford19km to go: TNT Sports comms point out that the distinctive yellow jersey of Tadej Pogacar is well down in the peloton, some 50 riders back or so. His rivals Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel are right up at the front in the second row of riders, nearly side-by-side, each shepherded by a teammate.
Pogacar has Adam Yates in front of him, but it doesn’t look like they’re trying to move forward, despite the nerves ratcheting up the closer we get to the line in Laval.
Vercher and Burgaudeau, meanwhile, have extended their gap to 1’07”.
5km rule in action today
15:44 , Flo Clifford25km to go: Jordi Meeus was caught up in a crash earlier in the day and while in theory he is Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s protected sprinter for the day, responsibility may fall to his lead-out man Danny van Poppel. The Dutchman beat the likes of Olav Kooij in a sprint for the national title, so he’s in form, and may be a better bet on this uphill finish.
The 5km rule will be used today rather than 3km, meaning that any riders who crash in the final 5km will be given the same time as those in the group they were in at the time.
'I feel fresh' - Biniam Girmay
15:33 , Flo Clifford35km to go: Biniam Girmay tells TNT Sports today’s finish suits him and the team have had it bookmarked since December. The uphill drag to the line may get rid of some of the pure sprinters and open the door to the more versatile riders like the Eritrean. He had a barnstormer of a Tour last year - winning the green jersey and three stages - but hasn’t taken a win this year.
He also mentions the fatigue from several tough days may hamper some riders, but not him. ‘I feel fresh,’ he says.
Puncture for Arnaud de Lie
15:26 , Flo Clifford38km to go: Belgian sprinter/Classics rider Arnaud de Lie has had a puncture and is chasing back on. He was a real breakout star from a couple of years ago but hasn’t quite hit those heights since. Today’s finish, on paper, suits him, but he’s not on the form he once was.
Marc Soler crashes
15:19 , Flo Clifford44km to go: Marc Soler has hit the deck but it looks fairly innocuous. He’s been given a new bike and is on his way back to rejoin the bunch, who have reeled in our French pair up front to within around 35 seconds.
Gap up to a minute
15:04 , Flo Clifford55km to go: The two intrepid Frenchmen have just shy of a minute on the bunch.
Two-man breakaway with 30 second gap
14:50 , Flo Clifford67km to go: “We’re really hungry for a win,” Jonathan Milan told Eurosport at the start line. “We have the best team. Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.” That’s a nice, positive way of looking at things.
The green jersey seems confident of his chances today and has already hoovered up the intermediate sprint points to close the gap to Pogacar, who actually leads the standings by 14 points.
The TotalEnergies duo out front have been given just half a minute.
Two riders off the front
14:39 , Flo Clifford78km to go: Here are the full intermediate sprint points:
1. Milan, 20 pts
2. Merlier, 17 pts
3. Turgis, 15 pts
4. Girmay, 13 pts
5. Rex, 11 pts
6. Coquard, 10 pts
7. Simmons, 9 pts
8. Zimmermann, 8 pts
9. Van Sintmaartensdijk, 7 pts
10. Powless, 6 pts
11. De Lie, 5 pts
12. Burgaudeau, 4 pts
13. Wellens, 3 pts
14. Rickaert, 2 pts
15. Naberman, 1 pt
The TotalEnergies pair of Burgaudeau and Matteo Vercher have opened up a gap of a handful of seconds over the peloton, again led by Intermarche and Quinn Simmons.
Milan wins intermediate sprint
14:30 , Flo Clifford84km to go: It’s a three-way sprint for the points but once Milan opened up his sprint there was no way anyone was overhauling him, the Italian kicking his sprint off just before a very late, swinging left-hand corner and ensuring he was in pole position. Biniam Girmay got boxed in a little bit there.
Tim Merlier was best of the rest, finishing second, but not quick enough to get past the green jersey.
Mathieu Burgaudeau, of TotalEnergies, makes a couple of digs to get away, but Milan’s teammate Quinn Simmons is on bodyguard duty and shuts that down.
Milan on top form in intermediate sprints
14:2588km to go: Jonathan Milan has been really active in intermediate sprints so far, hoovering up maximum points on three of six so far in this race (there wasn’t one in the time trial). In the remaining three he was first of the bunch, after the breakaway took full points.
Intermediate sprint approaching
14:20 , Flo Clifford93km to go: In the bunch, Tadej Pogacar gets some updates on other races happening today. “Urska seventh place in the Giro d’Italia today,” the team car tells him - referring to his girlfriend, the Slovenian rider Urska Zigart. Pogacar asks where that leaves her in the overall standings, which the team car doesn’t know. I can confirm she is now eighth on GC.
As for the Tour of Austria, Pogacar is told, “[Isaac] Del Toro wins, third [Rafal] Majka.” A strong day out for the team.
We’re not far away from the intermediate sprint at Vitre now, so there’ll be some racing here too.
Issues for Vingegaard and Girmay
14:09 , Flo Clifford99km to go: Jonas Vingegaard drops back to the team car, while Biniam Girmay has a rear wheel puncture. Nothing too disastrous, with the pace still fairly gentle and no attacks going.
We’ve dipped under the 100km to go mark.
Evenepoel going under the radar?
14:01 , Flo CliffordThere’s been a lot of chatter so far about needle between Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates-XRG, with the teams visibly trying to one-up each other (read: win the battle for positioning on every key climb) and their respectively leaders fighting for stage wins. Pogacar seemed miffed by Visma’s tactics on stage six, trying to keep him in the yellow jersey, which no doubt only prompted Visma to keep going down that route.
In the midst of all that, is Remco Evenepoel being forgotten about? The affable Belgian seems to have a good relationship with both Vingegaard and Pogacar, and hasn’t quite challenged them so far, while sticking with them almost all the way yesterday. He mentioned at the end of stage seven that the upcoming longer climbs would suit him more. Are we about to see a real three-horse race?
Riders in formation
13:53 , Flo Clifford110km to go: “You look so good all riding together,” Mark Renshaw enthuses in the XDS-Astana team car, as his team ride in formation behind Intermarche-Wanty. “Beautiful,” the former lead-out man - a massive part of the Mark Cavendish winning machine - says.
No change in the peloton, or the pace, so far.
Bunch all together
13:38 , Flo Clifford121km to go: It’s as you were on the road to Laval, the peloton are still rolling along at a decent lick - 47km/h at the moment - but no signs of any attacking intent so far.
Intermarche and Quinn Simmons are still leading on the front.
Risks just as high on slower stages
13:29 , Flo Clifford130km to go: Larry Warbasse, on TNT Sports comms, suggests that on quote-unquote ‘boring’ stages like these, or comparatively easy stages, riders paradoxically almost need to be more switched on, to avoid the risk of silly crashes caused by lapses in concentration - the kind we saw at the very end of stage seven, when the pace lulled temporarily ahead of the expected battle for positioning onto the final climb, and several riders went down.
A hot day out
13:19 , Flo CliffordSoaring temperatures may go some way to explaining why the pace has been distinctly relaxed so far (along with the fact that any breakaway is even more doomed than normal). The temperature is up to 30 degrees Celsius, not that that’s deterred the busy and vocal crowds who have turned up to support the riders, which is always great to see.
The Tour’s live race centre adds: “The wind also makes things uncomfortable for the cyclists: blowing from the northeast, it will be in their faces for practically the entire stage, at an average speed of 15 km/h, slowing the peloton down.”
Order in the bunch
13:12 , Flo Clifford140km to go: Bernie Eisel, on the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team radio, has a chat with his riders. This part of France is “full of cows”, he notes, and there’s a museum dedicated to Louison Bobet. “Enjoy!” he notes cheerily. Told you it would be a slow day.
Joao Almeida update
13:05 , Flo CliffordTNT Sports’ Matt Stephens has a chat with an incredibly relaxed-sounding Joao Almeida at the start of stage eight. Asked about his fractured rib, Almeida - sounding remarkably cheerful given the circumstances - says, “Actually it’s really broken, unfortunately not just a crack. But I think for the severity of the crash, was quite fast, I’m not too bad. Of course a lot of bruises and skin lost but it could have been much worse, we need to look at things in a positive way.”
This weekend of sprint stages has come at the right time, Matt Stephens suggests, and Almeida agrees. “Trying to recover as much as I can, also my left hand is not great, the finger is quite painful, so hopefully I can handle my bike correctly.
“We always put health [as] number one, the team told me to do whatever is best for me, so that’s what I’ll do. Being useless, [when] I can do nothing for my teammates, is not good for me as well. I’ll see how it goes.” I tip my hat to him, what a trooper.
Força João 🇵🇹🔥 #TDF2025#WeAreUAE pic.twitter.com/yDE4B5Eqie
— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) July 12, 2025
Intermarche on the front
12:58 , Flo Clifford152km to go: Intermarche have established a presence on the front right from the flag drop, but don’t seem to want to do much with it. The flamboyant moustache and rather garish stars and stripes jersey of American national champion Quinn Simmons are up there too.
Oscar Onley
12:51 , Flo CliffordOscar Onley has been having a fabulous Tour so far, with a third place yesterday - ie. best of the rest, behind Pogacar and Vingegaard - helping him jump back up to seventh overall.
The 22-year-old Scot had a quick word with TNT Sports before the start of the stage. “It’s a little bit of a suprise but these kind of stages suit me well,” he said. “To be behind Pogačar and Vingegaard yesterday gives you a bit of confidence … It’s nice to be able to pay the team back.” He, along with fellow British climber Max Poole, are the long-term replacements for Romain Bardet in terms of Picnic PostNL’s GC ambitions.
Asked about today, he says the plan is to “take it easy and try to recover. [I’m] looking forward to Monday, it should be another one that suits me.” Monday is the first real mountainous day of the Tour, with a finish on Le Mont Dore-Puy de Sancy.
Key points of today's stage
12:44 , Flo CliffordAt the 85km mark there’s an intermediate sprint, at Vitre. Might we see a breakaway go then, after the sprinters have been allowed to mop up some more points for the green jersey classification?
Then at the 155km mark, with less than 20km left to race, is the day’s only categorised climb, the cat-four Cote de Nuille-sur-Vicoin, a 900m climb averaging just shy of 4%.
Then it flattens out again but not for long, with a false flat drag to the line.
Quiet start
12:38 , Flo Clifford165km to go: Today has been a far cry from the frenetic pace of the rest of the week. Wout van Aert has a chinwag with a TotalEnergies rider. Valentin Madouas, celebrating his 29th birthday, comes to the front as the riders head through the commune of Boisgervilly.
Today’s start town of Saint-Meen-le-Grand is the birthplace of Tour great Louison Bobet, who won 11 individual stages as well as becoming the first rider to win the race in three consecutive years, from 1953 to 1955.
Eddie Dunbar abandons the race
12:31 , Flo CliffordJayco-AlUla’s Eddie Dunbar was caught up in yesterday’s crash and sadly did not start today.
🏥 MEDICAL UPDATE
— GreenEDGE Cycling (@GreenEDGEteam) July 12, 2025
Eddie Dunbar has abandoned the Tour de France and will not start stage 8.
Following a crash in the final kilometres of yesterday’s stage, Dunbar has been suffering with pain in his wrist and a decision was taken to stop, for his safety.
We’re going to miss… pic.twitter.com/8aOzKZt1HR
Flag drop
12:26 , Flo Clifford170km to go: General director Christian Prudhomme waves the flag and we’re off!
There’s a bit of looking around among the front row of riders, but no-one wants to attack just yet.
Neutralised start
12:21 , Flo CliffordAnother 2km to go before we’re off and racing... although I’m not expecting much racing, per se, until later on today, with a sprint finish anticipated.
Tim Wellens is looking after the polka-dot jersey for Tadej Pogacar today, with the Slovene back in yellow.
Neutralised start
12:12 , Flo CliffordThe riders are rolling out for the neutralised start in Saint-Meen-le-Grand, on another beautiful day.
Rider health bulletin after stage seven
12:03 , Flo CliffordJack Haig was worst off in that crash with 6km to go, which also caught out his team leader Santiago Buitrago. Buitrago was able to make it to the finish, but Haig abandoned the race.
Bahrain Victorious posted an update this morning saying that Haig has a concussion but “is improving quickly”, while Buitrago has abrasions and contusions to his right thigh, but will still start today’s stage.
Almeida has an “uncomplicated rib fracture”, which still doesn’t sound great, and some abrasions to his body, but no concussion, and is set to start today. These guys really are tough as nails. The Portuguese rider’s podium bid is over, however, even if he makes it to Paris.
🏥 MEDICAL UPDATE
— Team Bahrain Victorious (@BHRVictorious) July 12, 2025
After yesterday's crash @LeTour which saw @jackhaig93 abandon the race, and @SantiagoBS26 suffer greatly in the final kms, we are relieved to announce that it seems neither suffered long-term serious injury. #TDF2025
[1/3]
We have an update on the condition of @JooAlmeida98 after today’s #TDF2025 crash 💪🏻
— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) July 11, 2025
Dr. Adriano Rotunno (Medical Director): “João suffered a heavy fall in the stage finale today.
“Thankfully there was no serious injury and he was able to finish the stage.
“After clinical… pic.twitter.com/cLqJJAVwJq
Stage eight prediction
11:56 , Flo CliffordThis may be one for the punchier sprinters given the uphill finish, so in truth it could be anyone’s game. Wout van Aert hasn’t looked on song so far in this Tour and his primary role is support for Jonas Vingegaard, but if he’s feeling up for it, he could do well. Marijn van den Berg can sprint but has been nowhere in the two previous sprint stages; Biniam Girmay doesn’t look to be on the sparkling form of last year but was second on stage one.
The green jersey of Jonathan Milan is an absolute powerhouse but might struggle on the cat-four climb, but if his team protect him and get him back at the front, he might be the best-placed of the fast men to haul himself over the uphill drag.
'This win is for Joao' - Pogacar
11:49 , Flo Clifford“I’m super happy with the win, we did almost perfect, unfortunate Joao crashed and I hope he’s okay,” Pogacar said afterwards. “If he’s okay then it’s a perfect day, if he’s not okay then this victory is for him. Right now I just wish he’s okay.
“Me and Mathieu, we both know this finish very well, we have nice memories from here. we wanted more or less the same, to win on this iconic climb, but I think maybe he left it too much yesterday on the road so we couldn’t have this rematch! But for me the day went like we planned and the win is amazing.
“Back in yellow, now let’s hope for two more easy days.”
GC movers and shakers on stage seven
11:42 , Flo CliffordThe major change on GC was the disappearance of Joao Almeida from the top 10, who finished 10 minutes down and is now 28th after a nasty crash on the final climb of yesterday’s stage.
Ben Healy has dropped from eighth to 11th, the consequence of that being the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe pair of Florian Lipowitz and Primoz Roglic moved up a spot each, although both lost another 30 seconds to sit more than three minutes down.
Evenepoel’s gap to Pogacar has gone out to 54 seconds, Vingegaard has lost another couple of seconds, and van der Poel has dropped from first to fifth.
Oscar Onley is the big beneficiary, moving back up to seventh from 11th. He sits 2’49” back and picked up four bonus seconds from his third-place finish.
Stage seven recap
11:35 , Flo CliffordTadej Pogacar outsprinted rival Jonas Vingegaard and an elite group of general classification contenders to win stage seven of the Tour de France in Mur-de-Bretagne and reclaim the yellow jersey from Mathieu van der Poel.
Pogacar opened up his sprint 200 metres from the line with Vingegaard the only man from a select group able to follow his wheel, while the 22-year-old Scot Oscar Onley continued his excellent Tour so far by beating Felix Gall into third place on the day.
It was here that Van der Poel beat Pogacar to take an emotional first career Tour stage win and with it the yellow jersey four years ago, honouring his late grandfather Raymond Poulidor, and with Van der Poel holding just a one-second advantage over Pogacar coming into today there was potential for a thrilling rematch.
Tadej Pogacar outsprints Jonas Vingegaard to win stage seven and reclaim yellow
General classification after stage seven
11:28 , Flo Clifford1) Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in 25:58:04
2) Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) +54”
3) Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) +1’11”
4) Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1’17”
5) Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +1’29”
6) Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1’34”
7) Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL) +2’49”
8) Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +3’02”
9) Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +3’06”
10) Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +3’43”
Stage seven results
11:21 , Flo Clifford1) Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in 4:05:39
2) Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), same time
3) Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL) +2”
4) Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale)
5) Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike)
6) Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step)
7) Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels), all at same time
8) Jhonatan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +7”
9) Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers) +15”
10) Tobias Halland Johannessen +21”
How to watch the Tour de France 2025
11:15 , Flo CliffordThe 2025 Tour de France will be broadcast live on ITV4 in the UK, in what is the last year of free-to-air coverage of the race before it is exclusively shown on TNT Sports and Discovery+.
Viewers can also stream the race online via ITVX app and website, and subscribers can watch the action on the TNT Sports and Discovery+ apps.
Each stage will packaged into hourly highlights shows on ITV4, typically starting at around 7pm BST. The highlights can be streamed on ITVX with the website and app.
Stage eight start time
11:12 , Flo CliffordStage eight’s neutralised start is at 1.10pm local time (12.10pm), with the finish time expected to be around 5.15pm local time (4.15pm BST).
Stage eight route map and profile
11:09 , Flo Clifford
Key moments of stage eight
11:06 , Flo CliffordThere’s also the matter of a categorised climb in the final 20km, the Cote de Nuille-sur-Vicoin, which at 3.8% for 900m is short but steep enough to punish the pure fast men and ensure they waste some energy ahead of the final.
Other than that it’s pretty much pan-flat, and with the sprinters’ teams no doubt controlling things all day, we may see no riders bother with a breakaway at all. Let’s hope they do, because it’ll be a long day otherwise.
Stage eight preview
11:03 , Flo CliffordStage eight is one of just five friendly days for the fast men in this year’s route, a 174km ride from Saint-Meen-le-Grand in Brittany to Laval in the Pays de la Loire region.
And even this one has a spanner in the works in the form of an uphill drag to the line, the sort of finish Mark Cavendish would roundly object to.
It means that the likes of Tim Merlier, winner of stage three, may find themselves struggling to power past the more versatile sprinters.
Good morning
10:57 , Flo CliffordHello and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of stage eight of the Tour de France!
After a punchy week in Normandy, the sprinters get their time to shine again today. But there’s a twist in the tale with an uphill drag to the line that may prove too much for the pure fast men... let’s find out!
