tour de france stage eight map

Tour de France 2023 Route stage 8: Libourne - Limoges

It’s the fourteenth time that a Tour de France stage goes to Limoges. The first stage winner in the town in the Haute-Vienne department was Belgian André Rosseel in 1952, while Marcel Kittel won the last stage. The German outsprinted Bryan Coquard and Peter Sagan in 2016.

That year, the riders arrived from Saumur, now the stage leaves from Libourne. The town on the banks of the Dordogne river hosted a stage finish and a stage start in 2021. Matej Mohoric won the 19th leg from the breakaway before Wout van Aert set off from Libourne to win the time trial to Saint-Émilion.

A flat first part bids welcome to the riders this time before more lumpy terrain is on the menu in the final 75 kilometres. Three climbs stand out, Côte de Champs-Romain (2.8 kilometres at 5.2%), Côte de Masmont (1.3 kilometres at 5.5%) and Côte de Condat-sur-Vienne (1.2 kilometres at 5.4%). The latter two are situated inside the final 16 kilometres, the Condat-sur-Vienne even inside the last 10.

The last kilometre holds something extra up its sleeve – a 3.1% gradient, to be precise.

The first three riders on the line gain time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds.

Ride the route yourself? Download GPX stage 8 2023 Tour de France.

Another interesting read: results 8th stage 2023 Tour de France.

Tour de France 2023 stage 8: routes, profiles, more

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Tour de France 2023: Pedersen wins stage eight after Cavendish crashes out – as it happened

Mark Cavendish crashed out of his ifnal Tour with 60 kilometres to go on a stage that was won in a sprint finish by the Danish Lidl-Trek rider Mads Pedersen

• Read Jeremy Whittle’s stage eight report from Limoges
• 8 Jul 2023 The top five on General Classification
• 8 Jul 2023 Cavendish crashes out as Pedersen prevails
• 8 Jul 2023 Mads Pedersen wins the stage!
• 8 Jul 2023 Mark Cavendish abandons the Tour de France!
• 8 Jul 2023 Mark Cavendish has crashed!
• 8 Jul 2023 They're off and racing on stage eight ...
• 8 Jul 2023 Who's wearing what?
• 8 Jul 2023 Cavendish denied as Philipsen completes hat-trick
• 8 Jul 2023 Stage eight: Libourne to Limoges (200.7km)

The top five on General Classification

Jonas Vingegaard retains the yellow jersey with a lead of 25 seconds over Tadej Pogacar. Simon Yates’s crash five kilometres from home cost him 47 seconds and he drops from fourth to sixth on GC.

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 34hr 09min 38sec

2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) +25 sec

3. Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +1min 34sec

4. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +3min 30sec

5. Adam Yates (UAE Emirates) +3min 40sec

Cavendish crashes out as Pedersen prevails

Stage eight report: Mark Cavendish crashed out of the Tour de France on stage eight from Libourne to Limoges, after suffering a suspected broken collarbone, with Danish sprinter Mads Pedersen taking his first stage win this year. Jeremy Whittle reports from Limoges …

An email: “I feel absolutely gutted for Mark Cavendish,” writes David Alderton. “He is superb, and I think he would have got one more win this year, and I reckon most thought it, too. Cycling is the most beautiful yet the cruellest sport.

“On collarbones, in 2003 Tyler Hamilton fractured his in a couple of places in the early stages, yet (I think) finished the Tour in the service of Lance Armstrong. He ground his teeth down, he says, as the pain was so bad.

“Speaking of the early 2000s and Armstrong, I’m really enjoying the duel between the Vingegaard and Pogacar on the climbs. It’s reminding me of the Armstrong and Pantani rivalry, but it seems much better natured. There’s apparently genuine respect there, and after the race everything gets put back in the box.”

Mark Cavendish: The Manx Missile was forced to pull out his final Tour de France , after crashing about 60 kilometres from the finish and appearing to fracturie his collarbone. Mads Pedersen, today’s stage winner, pays tribute to the great man.

“For me it was a pleasure to be able to race with Mark,” he says. “I always had a good relationship with him in the peloton and it’s so sad that such a legend has to finish the Tour like this. I wish all the best for Mark and hopefully I can do the last race he’s going to do as well, to honour a legend who is top in cycling.”

The sprint finish: Wout van Aert almost certainly should have won the stage but was forced to brake after getting boxed in behind his own teammate, Christophe Laporte in the closing stages. Laporte was on leadout duty for Van Aert, but failed to get out of his way once he’d finished his duties. Van Aert was forced to brake briefly before resuming his effort but despite a fine effort, he ran out of road before he could catch Pedersen and Philipsen. I suspect the atmosphere at the Jumbo-Visma dinner table could be frosty this evening.

General classification: Jonas Vingegaard retains the yellow jersey, while Simon Yates seems to have dropped two places to sixth in the GC following his crash five kilometres from the finish.

Mads Pedersen wins stage eight: On a day in which Mark Cavendish was forced to abandon the Tour, the Danish rider holds off Philipsen and Wout van Aert to win the stage in a time of 4hr 12min 26sec. Dylan Groenewegen was fourth.

Mads Pedersen wins the stage!

The Lidl-Trek rider wins the sprint despite the best attempts of Jasper Philipsen to nick it in the closing metres.

1.5km to go: Wout van Aert, Jasper Phiilipsen, Mads Pedersen, Bryan Coquard, Julian Alaphilippe and Dylan Groenewegen are all well placed as we enter the final kilometre, which is uphill.

3km to go: Steff Crass (TotalEnergies) was involved in that crash in which Simon Yates hit the deck and has been forced to abandon.

4km to go: Jasper Philipsen is near the front of the bunch, surrounded by Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates.

6km to go: There’s another crash and Simon Yates, who is fourth in the General Classification, comes down. He remounts and sets off to try and rejoin the peloton.

6km to go: As the peloton tries to sort itself out ahead of the finish, Lotto-Dstny rider Victor Campenaerts tries a sneaky attack. He’s quickly reeled in.

8km to go: After a heroically doomed effort, Anthony Turgis sits up and is swallowed by the peloton. Chapeau that man.

9km to go: The riders of Jumbo-Visma are lined up at the front of the peloton, putting the hammer down and piling the hurt on the bunch in an effort to get rid of the pure sprinters to increase Wout van Aert’s chances of winning the stage. Alexander Kristoff and Phil Bauhaus have been dropped.

12km to go: Anthony Turgis hits the foot of the final climb of the day, the Category 4 Côte de Condat-sur-Vienne. It’s 289 metres high and 1.3km in length, with an average gradient of 5.4%.

15km to go: ANthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) is on his own in front with a lead of 38 seconds over the peloton. The road is wide and the riders of Jumbo-Visma, Lotto-Dstny and Uno-X are at the front of the chasing posse.

16km to go: In the breakaway, Anthony Turgis attacks and drops his two fellow riders, who are unable to keep up with him.

18km to go: If you’re just joining me for the ubnsinmess end of the stage, we have three leaders, Anthony Delaplace (Arkea), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Tim Declercq (Soudal-Quick Step), out in front with a dwindling lead that is now down to 50 seconds. The sad news from today’s stage is that Mark Cavendish has been forced to abandon after crashing near the back end of of the peloton with 59 kilometres to go. He appeared to have broken his collarbone.

20km to go: Having been told his teammate has been caught by the peloton, Tim Declercq has started pulling his weight in the breakaway again. Anthony Delaplace is struggling a little to stay on his wheel.

21km to go: Jumbo-Visma’s Dylan van Baarle is doing another pull at the front of the peloton and they’ve reeled Kasper Asgreen back in. The gap to the three leaders is down to one minute.

26km to go: Kasper Asgreen has opened a lead of 20 seconds on the peloton, while the lead trio are 1min 42sec ahead of the bunch. Dylan Groenewegen’s Jayco-AlUla teammates are putting in the hard yards at the front of the peloton. In the leasd group, Declercq has stopped doing his turns on the front, all the better to help Asgreen, his teammate, bridge the gap between the peloton and the leaders.

32km to go: “Devastated for Cav here,” writesd Ali Kinnaird. “It wasn’t supposed to end this way but this will not overshadow his stupendous achievements. A cycling immortal and surely one of the greatest British sportspeople of all time.”

Fun fact: Cavendish did his first ever mainstream media interview with me ahead of his first Tour as a cocky young whippersnapper riding for the German T-Mobile team. I’d never heard of him at the time and had no idea how good he’d turn out to be but remember being very impressed with his self-assurance and good sense of humour.

35km to go: The gap from the breakaway to the bunch is steadily coming down and is now at 1min 46sec. Asgreen is 10 seconds clear of the peloton.

37km to go: Soudal-Quick Step rider Kasper Asgreen attacks off the front of the peloton and opens a conspicuous gap of 10 seconds. His teammate Tim Declercq is already up the road in the breakaway.

39km to go: “I can’t stand the new green jersey,” writes Nick Honeywell. “The whole point of the jerseys for the leaders in the classifications is that they’re supposed to help them stand out from the rest of the peloton, and the drab green this year completely fails to do this. Bring back the unmissable lurid green jersey!

“I had similar complaints albeit from the other direction back when Jumbo-Visma raced in almost all-yellow jerseys, as that made it harder to spot the genuine yellow jersey.

“As for the points, I’m quite happy for pure sprinters to win it if they get the chance. I mean, isn’t the jersey for the rider who competes best across all terrain in the race the, er, yellow jersey?”

40km to go: With a stiff tailwind behind them, the peloton is being towed along by a teammate of Cofidis sprinter Bryan Coquard, another man who’ll have his eye on today’s prize. The gap is down to 2min 10sec and big news today is that Mark Cavendish has been forced to abandon the race.

45km to go: Anthony Delaplace (Arkea), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Tim Declercq (Soudal-Quick Step) continue to wend their way towards Limoges, their lead at 2min 21sec.

48km to go: Lidl-Trek continue to make the pace at the front of a peloton that has just lost Mark Cavendish to what looks like a broken collarbone. He climbed into the back of a medical car looking quite dazed, turned down the offer of painkillers and the door was closed behind him. It’s an awful shame that he wasn’t able to finish his final Tour in Paris on his own terms.

53km to go: Anthony Delaplace (Arkea), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Tim Declercq (Soudal-Quick Step) remain out in front with a lead of 2min 22sec.

55km to go: Following his near miss yesterday, Cavendish goes out of the race on the back of some absolutely rotten luck. He was motoring along near the back of the peloton, came down with five or six other riders and seems to have landed on his shoulder. It could scarcely have been more innocuous but it’s put an end to his final Tour de France . “It’s an absolute sickener,” says Rob Hatch on Eurosport and he’s not wrong.

💔 Mark... #TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/7CXUazZrbO — Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 8, 2023

Mark Cavendish abandons the Tour de France!

58km to go: Looking extremely disconsolate, Cavendish climbs into the back of a medical van. That’s a heart-breaking way to finish his final Tour. He will end his career with 34 stage Tour wins, the joint record-holder with Eddy Merckx.

59km to go: Cavendish is helped back to his feet and is walking around but has yet to remount his bike. He’s still holding his shoulder.

Mark Cavendish has crashed!

There’s a touch of wheels in the peloton and the Astana rider goes down with several others. He’s lying flat on his back in the road, holding his shoulder. I’m no doctor but the way he’s holding himself, it looks like he might have broken his collarbone. Hopefully that’s not the case.

63km to go: Lidl-Trek riders Giulio Ciccone and Alex Kirsch are pulling the peloton along with the gap down to 2min 40sec. The riders of Jumbo-Visma are tucked in behind them, next to their rivals from Alpecin-Deceuninck.

66km to go: In the breakaway, Anthony Turgis was first over the climb, taking two KOM points, Tim Declercq followed him over and bagged one.

70km to go: The riders are making their way up the Côte de Champs-Romain, the first of theree categorised climbs on today’s route. The gap from the leading trio to the peloton is down to 2min 59sec.

73km to go: James in Amsterdam writes regarding the mini-controversy surrounding yesterday’s sprint finish. “I’m not seeing anything more than Philipsen moving across to grab Cavendish’s wheel,” he says. “Both Girmay and Philipsen wanted Cavendish’s wheel, Philipsen got it. That sort of move happens several times in the run up to every sprint finish and no way will the jury start handing out DSQs for that.

“Two riders wanting the same wheel, one insisting, one relinquishing is an essential and mundane part of the sport. Philipsen’s swerve didn’t impede anyone, cause anyone to brake or put anyone in danger. Therefore it was correctly not considered as a ‘foul’.”

I concur and would add that in his pre-stage interveiw this morning, Cavendish didn’t seem to have any beef with Philipsen or convey any sense of being hard done by. He blamed his defeat on a slipped gear.

75km to go: The riders of Mads Pedersen’s Lidl-Trek team are currently putting in the hard yards at the front of the peloton and the gap is at 3min 38sec. Giulio Ciccone is doing the donkey work at the front of the bunch.

78km to go: “I would be interested to hear from you and fellow readers if they prefer to see the green jersey point system won from sprint wins or consistent finishes,” writes Robin Lynch. “Although it is hard to begrudge Jasper Philippsen his commanding lead, I prefer to see the final jersey won by a rider who competes across all terrain (Sean Kelly, Peter Sagan, Michael Matthews, Wout Van Aert) and the current system of 50 points for a flat stage win makes it more likely that a dominant sprinter takes it. Although not impossible as we saw last year. I’m also keen to hear views on the new style maillot vert - it looks great on the podium but hard to pick out in the peloton. 6/10.”

I’m not a massive fan of the new green jersey, as I think the dark shade of green makes it look like a Bora Hansgrohe jersey.

85km to go: The gap from Declercq, Delaplace and Turgis back to the peloton is in to 3min 53sec and any hopes they have of winning this stage are looking more forlorn by the kilometre. It’s likely to be a hotly contested finish and there are no shortage of riders in the peloton who will fancy thewir chances. Wout van Aert, Jasper Philipsen, Binian Girmay, Mathieu van der Poel, Caleb Ewan and Mads Pedersen are among the favourites.

🌻🌻🌻 🌻🌻🌻 🌻🌻🌻🌻 🌻 🌻 🌻 🌻 🌻 🌻 🌻 🌻🌻🌻 🌻 🌻 🌻 🌻 🌻 🌻🌻🌻 🌻… pic.twitter.com/wWgj8b3NsF — Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 8, 2023

95km to go: “US coverage just spent a good 4-5 minutes analyzing yesterday’s sprint and the complaints that were filed by the teams of Mark Cavendish and Biniam Girmay,” writes Alex Whitney. “I’m not a competitive cyclist, and am definitely too faint of heart for a sprint, but it seemed pretty clear that there wasn’t a crash solely because Girmay made a choice to not let Philipsen embroil him in one.”

97km to go: Mathiu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), for whom the finish of today’s stage looks tailor made, drops back to his team car for some refreshments and a pow-wow with one of the occupants. Further up the road in the lead trio, Tim Declercq collects an energy bar from his team car.

99km to go: Jumbo-Visma’s Dylan van Baarle is towing the peloton along at 47km per hour. The gap is hovering around the four-minute mark.

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Tour de France 2022 stage 8 preview: Route map and profile of 186km road from Dole to Lausanne today

• Oops! Something went wrong. Please try again later. More content below

Stage eight of the 2022 Tour de France might have been one for the sprinters had it not been for a draggy ascent to the finish line in the Swiss city of Lausanne which will suit a puncheur much better than the power riders, who might well feel a little short-changed by the parcours this year.

An early intermediate sprint could bring the fast men to the fore chasing green jersey points, but a breakaway is likely to have scampered up the road by then rendering the sprint relatively meaningless. Then come three categorised climbs, the middle of which – the category three Cote des Rousses (6.7km at 5% average gradient) – offers a strategic opportunity for someone to attack and punish weary legs after a gruelling first week.

After crossing the border to Switzerland comes the category four Cote de Petra Felix (2.4km, 5.6%) before a long, steady descent towards Lausanne and the finishing climb, the category three Cote du Stade Olympique (4.8km, 4.6%) which passes the eponymous venue at the summit.

With Julian Alaphilippe absent through injury, Mathieu van der Poel feeling far from his best this week and Wout van Aert potentially restricted to team duties protecting leader Jonas Vingegaard, there is no standout candidate for victory. Van Aert could be given license to go for the stage, however, while the likes of Peter Sagan and Michael Matthews might just have the right blend of speed and power for a profile such as this one. Then again, if the breakaway is reeled in, who would bet against the yellow jersey of Tadej Pogacar surging to a third successive stage victory? He is certainly unlikely to let Ineos punchier riders like Tom Pidcock or Adam Yates go for glory, given their threat in the general classification.

Whatever happens, if the action comes anywhere close to matching that of the past three days, we are in for another compelling day’s racing at the Tour de France.

Stage 8 profile

Stage 8 start time.

The stage is scheduled to begin at around 12.15pm BST with the expected arrival at 4:30pm BST.

How to watch on TV and online today

Tour de France coverage can be found this year on ITV4, Eurosport, Discovery+ and GCN+ (Global Cycling Network).

Live racing each day will be shown on ITV4 before highlights typically at 7pm each day. ITV’s website lists timings here .

Eurosport and GCN+ will show every minute of every stage. More on Eurosport’s coverage here and the GCN+ coverage here .

It is also being shown on Eurosport’s Discovery+ streaming service, with broadcast info here .

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Tour de France stage eight preview

All you need to know about the route, timings, and what to expect from stage eight

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Stage eight of the Tour de France 2022 starts in Dole and finishes in Lausanne.

Even though the stage passes through the heart of the Jura massif to reach the Swiss city of Lausanne, the peloton’s yellow jersey contenders and climbers will have to wait another 24 hours before a major mountain test. Instead, it appears this is another opportunity for the break to take a stage win.

When is stage eight of the Tour de France taking place?

The Tour de France stage eight takes place on Saturday, July 9, starting at 12:20 BST with an anticipated finish time of 16:40 BST. 

How long is stage eight of the Tour de France?

The Tour de France stage eight will be 186.3km long.

Tour de France stage eight: expected timings

Tour de france stage eight route.

From the Jura foothills the route climbs to the resort of Les Rousses, where Frenchman Lilian Calmejane was the stage victor in 2017, then travels along a plateau into neighbouring Switzerland. 

There’s a steady drop to the shore of Lake Geneva in Lausanne, then an intriguing climb to the finish next to the Olympic stadium. Extending to almost 5km, the most challenging section is the penultimate kilometre, which averages 9.5%. Beyond it, the last 800 metres keep dragging up to the line.

Useful Tour de France 2022 resources

• Tour de France 2022 route
• Tour de France 2022 standings
• Tour de France 2022 start list
• Tour de France 2022 key stages
• How to watch the 2022 Tour de France
• Past winners of the Tour de France
• Tour de France leader's jerseys
• Tour de France winning bikes

Tour de France stage eight: what to expect 

This looks like another good opportunity for a breakaway to go the distance, although there are sure to be some teams that will want to keep the escapees within reach in order to set up their puncheurs for the challenging finale. It will be interesting to see how the GC teams respond in this contest. Some may be keen to assist the peloton’s pursuit if they sense there’s a chance to grab a stage win and some useful bonus seconds.

Tour de France stage eight: riders to watch

This is another enticing stage for riders who thrive in the hilly Classics, and particularly those who can deliver a sharp turn of finishing speed after a short but intense climb. Veteran Philippe Gilbert might like the look of this, while Bahrain’s Dylan Teuns has this season established himself as a force to be reckoned with on uphill finishes. Michael Matthews could be a threat if the peloton makes it to the finish en masse.

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Peter Cossins has been writing about professional cycling since 1993, with his reporting appearing in numerous publications and websites including Cycling Weekly ,  Cycle Sport  and  Procycling - which he edited from 2006 to 2009. Peter is the author of several books on cycling - The Monuments , his history of cycling's five greatest one-day Classic races, was published in 2014, followed in 2015 by  Alpe d’Huez , an appraisal of cycling’s greatest climb. Yellow Jersey - his celebration of the iconic Tour de France winner's jersey won the 2020 Telegraph Sports Book Awards Cycling Book of the Year Award.

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Tour de France Stage 8: Into the Pyrenees

The race heads for the big mountains, with some tricky descents.

Stage 8: 141km – Cazères-sur-Garonne to Loudenvielle – Saturday, September 5

There are no summit finishes in the Pyrenees in this year’s Tour, but Saturday’s opening salvo in the big mountains is a serious stage that could affect the fight for the yellow jersey.

The primary difficulties are mostly in the back half of the stage. After an initial ascent of the Col de Menté, the race then tackles the Hors Categorie Port de Balès (11.7km at 7.7 percent average), and then the Col de Peyresourde, which gets a Category 1 ranking with 9.7km of climbing at 7.8 percent average.

The Balès is far enough from the finish that it may serve mainly to soften up riders’ legs rather than spring attacks. Expect Jumbo-Visma and perhaps INEOS Grenadiers to set a high pace on the climb to discourage attacks, as well as keep the likely early breakaway at a reasonable gap. But aggressive riders may push the pace on the descent in the hopes of putting pressure on less-confident bike handlers. There’s zero flat ground in the valley between the Balès and the final climb for dropped riders to close any gaps that opened on the descent.

As for the Peyresourde, again, Jumbo and INEOS will likely do their team-time-trial thing to keep riders from jumping off the front. It’s a good climb for a high, steady pace, as it doesn’t vary much in steepness. Most likely, if there’s an attack, it will come high on the climb as riders try to get a gap they can hold on the descent, where the superteams’ firepower is less effective.

The final descent isn’t as tricky as the Balès; it’s steep to start but straight; most of the switchbacks are lower down on the mountain. But farther down it’s a bit more technical until the course bottoms out with 3km to go for the final sprint to the finish. Expect anything from a single, bold escapee to a small group of favorites to contest the stage.

Riders to Watch

An early breakaway is almost a certainty, although after Stage 7’s difficulties it’s hard to say who might have the legs. If that group is large and motivated, they may get enough of a gap for at least a couple of survivors to make it to the finish ahead of the favorites group.

Among contenders, Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Emirates) may want to try to steal back some of the time he lost today; Bahrain-McLaren’s Mikel Landa and the Trek-Segafredo duo of Bauke Mollema and Richie Porte might be similarly inclined. Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde is always a threat on a day like this.

When to Watch

As Stage 7 showed, timetables are a guide, not a bible. But we’d expect the most interesting part of the stage to start on the Port de Balès, which the riders will summit as soon as 10:15 a.m. EDT by the fastest projected speed. If you pull up your feed around 10 a.m., you should catch the last part of the climb, the crucial descent, and the final climb and descent of the Peyresourde for a likely finish around 11 a.m.

How to Watch

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Tour de france stage 8 live - puncheur finish in lausanne.

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WOUT VAN AERT WINS STAGE 8

- Second stage win of the Tour for the Jumbo-Visma man

- Van Aert takes the win on a punchy summit finish into Lausanne in Switzerland

- Pogačar retains the yellow jersey and rides to third place on the stage

100km to go

105km to go, 110km to go, 115km to go, 125km to go, 130km to go, 140km to go, 145km to go, 150km to go, 155km to go, 160km to go, 165km to go, 175km to go, 180km to go, 185km to go, kilometre 0.

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 8 of the Tour de France

Today will take us 186km from Dole to Lausanne, you can see our full preview piece here .

Troubling news already this morning as two riders have left the Tour de France following positive COVID-19 cases.  

Geoffrey Bouchard of AG2R Citroën and UAE Team Emirates' Vegard Stake Laengen are the first two riders to depart the race because of a positive COVID-19 result.

Many support staff have also left the race with positive tests.

A look at the map of stage 8 of the Tour de France, finishing on the summit finish of Côte du Stade olympique in Lausanne.

Our jersey holders are of course Tadej Pogačar on his second day in yellow, Wout Van Aert in the green jersey as leader of the points classification, Magnus Cort who continues in polka dots, nursing just a one point lead over Pogačar, and Tom Pidcock, who sports the white youth classification jersey, on behalf of Pogačar.

The peloton rolls towards the official race start in Dole. Once again, it looks likely that plenty of teams will be interested in being part of the day's early break.

Which teams will be the first to attack today? The Tour is only 8 stages old, so plenty of teams still have yet to make an impact on the race, and would love to assert themselves on this tricky, lumpy stage.

1km to go until we're underway. 

Christian Prudhomme appears through the sunroof of the commissaire's car with his yellow flag, and we're off.

The riders power away ready for 186.3km of two-wheeled combat. No moves as yet.

Kristian Sbaragli (Alpecin-Deceuninck) is the first rider to attack.

Guess who? It's Magnus Cort - he's keen to get away and defend his polka dots. He's accompanied by a rider from Arkea-Samsic.

Wout Van Aert looks interested, highly visible at the front of the pack in his green skinsuit.

Plenty of moves continue to go.

Four riders nurse a small gap, but this breakaway is a long way from being established.

Everything comes back together and we go again, with riders from Lotto Soudal and QuickStep-AlphaVinyl pushing the pace.

The three have a small gap - Mattia Cattaneo (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and Brent Van Moer (Lotto Soudal) - but the attacks begin behind with Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) among those interested.

The group of three carve out a 16 second gap as the attacks behind fail to stick.

It looks as though the riders at the front of the bunch are taking a moment to recharge before they try to bridge across to the front group.

Oh no - big crash at the back of the bunch, plenty of riders affected. Vlasov has hurt his face and a rider from Team DSM looks to be hurt.

The rider from DSM is up and walking. Peter Sagan waits by the roadside for a new bike.

The peloton regroup and with the crash causing chaos, it seems as though it's given the break the chance they need to get away. They have 25 seconds now.

A large group, including the yellow jersey, ride together in a group a few seconds behind the main peloton.

UAE Team Emirates and Bora-Hansgrohe bring their leaders back to the main peloton.

Taco Van der Hoorn has broken out of the bunch and is trying to bridge across to the front three, as the attacks begin again.

Romain Bardet (Team DSM) gets a shoe change as he and his team mates chase on at the back of the bunch.

A group of around ten riders are trying to pull clear as the attacks continue. Groupama-FDJ are team time trialling back on at the back of the bunch.

UAE Team Emirates encourage everyone to block the road, and they have achieved their goal - George Bennett is the instigator of the accord.

Bardet is still struggling with his shoes - he stops once again and sorts himself out, before beginning the chase back, with Peter Sagan for company.

Former team mates Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) and George Bennett share a joke and grab a snack as peace breaks out within the bunch. 

The breakaway remains a group of three - they have a long day ahead of them. They begin to open out their lead - currently they have 1:40.

Yesterday, UAE did not give the breakaway more than three minutes, so it will be interesting to see if they are similarly minded today.

Ben O'Connor has dropped back to visit the medical car - he seems to be struggling with a hip issue as he has some pain relief spray and painkillers.

Correction - it's Frederik Frison from Lotto Soudal up the road, not Brent Van Moer. He and his two breakaway colleagues, Fred Wright and Mattia Cattaneo, have pulled out a gap of 2:44.

Kevin Vermaerke (Team DSM) abandons the race as a result of the injuries he sustained during that early crash.

Team Jumbo-Visma lend their power to the chase, with Nathan Van Hooydonck riding on the front, with Team BikeExchange-Jayco on his wheel and UAE Team Emirates tucked in behind.

The gap appears to be stabilising at just under three minutes, as the teams interested in riding for a stage win once again keep the breakaway on a tight leash.

Felix Grossschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) has a mechanical.

Jumbo-Visma and Team BikeExchange-Jayco lead the charge on stage 8 of the Tour de France.

Three riders continue to work in the breakaway but the peloton are not interested in giving them more than three minutes of breathing room.

The race will visit its fourth nation on today and tomorrow's stages - the final 70km or so of today will be ridden in Switzerland, with the race finishing in Lausanne's Olympic Stadium.

The riders are travelling through some stunning landscapes, with sheer crags leading to an archway carved into the rock.

Jumbo-Visma and BikeExchange lead the peloton through Le cirque du Fer-à-Cheval, a stunning valley near the Swiss border, as the race enters the Alps.

The break have added a small amount to their lead - it currently stands at 3:30.

The riders will shortly hit the day's intermediate sprint.

Following the intermediate sprint, the day's climbing will begin.

There are four peaks on the menu today - two category 4s and two category 3s.

The three riders in the breakaway are about to take on the intermediate sprint - will they contest it among themselves?

No. The three roll through the intermediate sprint without showing any interest in racing for the points. Understandable really, with none of them involved in the green jersey battle. Fred Wright crosses the line first to take 20 points.

The peloton will pass through it in 3:20. 

The Jumbo-Visma leadout train lines up ready for the intermediate sprint. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) takes the win from the bunch with Wout Van Aert second.

Laporte is third with Jakobsen in fourth.  

Back to business in the peloton. The bunch string out along the road with Jumbo-Visma and Team BikeExchange-Jayco back on the front.

The break have a gap of 3:07.

It's a hot one out there today. Many of the riders have their jerseys unzipped. The heat is forecast to continue well into next week, with temperatures of 28 degrees predicted on Alpe d'Huez. It could be interesting to see if the heat has an impact on the GC race, with Pogačar openly stating the hot conditions present a problem for him at times.

The riders will be working steadily uphill for some time now as they head toward the first category four climb of the day.

The three-man breakaway work together on stage 8 of the Tour de France.

The gap holds at around 3 minutes. 

BikeExchange and Jumbo-Visma continue to share the work at the front of the bunch.

Today's finish is uphill and could provide an opportunity for the puncheurs. It's a category 3 ascent into the Olympic Stadium in Lausanne. 

We are not far from our first categorised climb of the day.

You really have to feel for Ben O'Connor. Hotly tipped for success this year, following a third place at the Criterium du Dauphine, he's suffered a terrible run of luck so far with crashes and mechanicals causing him to ship masses of time on a GC contest he was expected to be a big part of.

He's clearly suffering today. Tough to watch.

The gap is coming down as the riders head towards the climb - it currently stands at 2:38.

Michael Matthews seems to have had some sort of issue - possibly a crash and/or mechanical. He is paced back on at the back.

Ben O'Connor is perilously close to losing touch at the back of the peloton here. He's having a really tough day out there.

The breakaway's gap diminishes yet again - it's 2:19 now and with over 110km still to ride, it spells doom for the three-man group.

The first categorised climb of the day will be Côte du Maréchet (category 4).

The breakaway crest the climb, with Frederik Frison taking the single available KOM point.

Nathan Van Hooydonck (Jumbo-Visma) and Chris Juul Jensen (BikeExchange) continue to share responsibility at the front of the peloton, with UAE Team Emirates in close order behind them.

The riders have an uncategorised climb to contend before a relatively steep descent leads them toward the second categorised climb of the day, the Côte des Rousses.

The gap is now under two minutes with BikeExchange leading the charge - Michael Matthews will be their chosen rider today, and he must be feeling good for his team to show this faith in him.

Matthews came second on stage 6, on the uphill sprint into Longwy, behind Tadej Pogačar.

Team Jumbo-Visma share the workload on behalf of Wout Van Aert, who is presumably also targeting the stage win.

Van Aert won stage 4 into Calais following a 10km solo breakaway effort. He had previously finished in second position on the first three stages in Denmark.

86km down, 100km to go. The breakaway maintain a fragile 1:46 lead over the chasing pack.

The peloton roll into the long descent towards Morez.

The peloton manages the road furniture with aplomb, a few riders choosing to hop up onto the pathway and back down again.

The gap moves back out to 2:15. The second climb of the day will begin shortly. The Côte des Rousses is 6.7km long, and pitches up at an average of 5%.

Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-EasyPost) drops back to the medical car to have a dressing on his elbow changed. 

The peloton works its way up the climb. The streets are lined with crowds and the flags are out in force.

Once the peloton hit the top of this climb, they have around 35km of relative flat land, over 1000m above sea level.

The race will shortly cross the border into Switzerland.

Team BikeExchange-Jayco are all in for the win today as the peloton heads into Switzerland on stage 8 of the Tour de France. (Image credit: Getty images)

The peloton winds its way through the town of Les Rousses.

Three men have been working in the breakaway for a large part of the day - Mattia Cattaneo (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and Frederik Frison (Lotto Soudal).

Their lead over the peloton currently stands at just 1:34.

Wout Van Aert, along with a few other riders, work their way back to the bunch following comfort breaks.

The gap to the breakaway has fallen to 1:06. It's not a particularly healthy lead for them, regrettably. This ones looks set to end in the predicted punchy sprint.

The riders are about to cross the border into the fourth country on this Tour so far. Having visited Denmark for the Grand Départ, the Tour returned to home soil for stage 4, before heading into Belgium on stage 6. Switzerland, and the Jura region, plays host to today's stage finish, and tomorrow's stage start.

Great statistic for you - Team BikeExchange-Jayco have done 49% of the work on the front of the bunch today. Jumbo-Visma have done 28% and UAE Team Emirates 21%.

Four riders in the peloton are Swiss nationals, and are now on home soil - Sylvain Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates).

The breakaway are digging in - Mattia Cattaneo suggests to his two colleagues that put their foot on the gas and try to open up their lead. The gap goes out to 1:18.

The breakaway are not going to go down without a fight. They extend their lead out to two minutes once again.

Wright and Cattaneo look strong but Frison looks as though he may not be able to maintain the higher pace. 

The peloton have also increased the pace, and riders are hanging on at the back.

Jumbo-Visma and BikeExchange continue to drive the pace. The bunch snake through another town, as they head towards the Col de Petra Felix, a category 4 challenge.

Frison drops from the front group of three. His day is over.

The gap stabilises once more at 2:00. There is just under 10km to go until the next categorised climb.

Frederik Frison slips back towards the peloton as Cattaneo and Wright push on at the front of the race.

BikeExchange have added another rider to the chase, as the gap settles at 2:11.

The climb of the Col de Pétra Félix is 2.4km in length at an average gradient of 5.4%. 

The breakaway duo tackle the climb, 2:09 ahead of the bunch.

The peloton enters the climb. 50km remain on stage 8 of the Tour de France, as the riders head towards Lausanne.

BikeExchange seem to have dropped out of the chase. Just Jumbo-Visma and UAE are visible working on the front now.

The climb has an impact on the peloton, as riders start to pop out of the back of the bunch, unable to stick with the tempo.

Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) comes off his bike - he's straight back on again though and chasing back on.

Thibaut Pinot suffers once more, a collision with the Trek-Segafredo soigneur knocking his glasses off his face and bringing him to a stop. Terrible luck for the French rider.

Wright and Cattaneo attack the descent, maintaining their lead of 2:00.

Pinot is riding hard to get back to the bunch following a pair of incidents within the space of a minute. Thankfully he seems unharmed.

It's basically all descent from here until the final climb. Expect a frantic chase to the line.

It's arguably advantage peloton, as the gap comes back down to 1:45. 

BikeExchange are back in the chase, after a change of personnel.

Pinot is around half a minute behind the rest of the bunch.

The time gap is still 1:38 - the peloton are working hard to close it but it's not coming down particularly quickly at the moment.

Wright and Cattaneo drive in the breakaway (Image credit: Getty images)

BikeExchange's Luke Durbridge drives the tempo on the front of the bunch and the gap reduces by another ten seconds. 

The riders have one last climb remaining, and it's the climb up to the finish line, which is at the Olympic Stadium in Lausanne.

Wright and Cattaneo are holding their gap at 1:22.

Things come back together after a bit of confusion at the front of the bunch. 

The peloton is strung out down the descent, 1:11 behind the leading duo of Cattaneo and Wright.

We're about to head into the final 20km of today's stage into Lausanne. The peloton, lead by Team BikeExchange-Jayco and Jumbo-Visma, are chasing down the breakaway pair of Mattia Cattaneo and Fred Wright. 

A final category 3 climb up to the finish line remains.

The gap is around 1:00 with 13km to ride until the final climb.

According to the stats, Cattaneo has done 55% of the work in the breakaway compared with Wright's 45%.

The road furniture causes a split for a moment as a rider from Jumbo-Visma drops his chain. All OK, thankfully.

Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies) has a mechanical and will be forced to chase back on. A number of groups have dropped away from the back of the bunch.

Nathan Van Hooydonck drops out of the chase, having worked at the front for the most part of the day. The GC teams line up alongside the race leaders.

The gap has dropped below a minute and it's falling reasonably quickly - down to 41 seconds, with just over 10km remaining.

The category 3 climb begins in just over 5km.

Ineos, TotalEnergies, EF, Trek and Bora are all visible at the front now and adding their resources to the chase. Still though, the gap holds at 41 seconds.

9km to go, 4km to the climb, the breakaway still holds a slender lead of just 37 seconds.

Cattaneo is dropped from the breakaway as Fred Wright strikes out alone.

Fred Wright is alone at the head of the race. He has a 27 second lead, it would be a real surprise if he could maintain this lead up the climb. The peloton bears down as the climb approaches.

AG2R-Citroen and Alpecin-Deceuninck, including Mathieu Van der Poel, are now driving the pace.

Time to climb. This 4.8km ascent will decide stage 8 of the Tour de France.

Wright's gap is down to 18 seconds - his time is almost up. Alpecin lead the charge up the slope.

Pogačar is right at the head of the race. 

The group slims down to the stage hopefuls and GC contenders as the gradient kicks up to 12%. Wright is about to be swamped by the bunch.

3.5km to go - Bora-Hansgrohe push on at the front.

What remains of the bunch strings out up the climb.

Vingegaard is glued to Pogačar's wheel in 3rd and 4th spot on the road.

Plenty of big names in with a chance of the stage win today - who will be first to launch?

1.5km to go, Bora still lead the charge.

Van Aert, Pidcock, Pogačar and Matthews are among the contenders at the front of the bunch.

UAE Team Emirates lead the elite selection towards the Flamme Rouge.

Philipsen is dropped. The puncheurs will have their day.

Rafal Majka pushes into the final few hundred metres on behalf of Pogačar.

500m remain on stage 8 of the Tour de France.

250m to go - Jungels launches for AG2R.

Wout Van Aert wins stage 8 of the Tour de France ahead of Michael Mathews and Tadej Pogačar.

The Jumbo-Visma man timed that one perfectly. Matthews launched his sprint with Pogačar in hot pursuit, but Van Aert came around them both to cruise through for the win, his second of this year's Tour de France.

Michael Matthews now has two second place finishes so far this Tour.

Tadej Pogačar will retain the yellow jersey following the stage, with Wout Van Aert extending his lead in the green jersey competition.

Andreas Kron (Lotto Soudal) and Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) came through to finish in 4th and 5th.

Pogačar gains 4 bonus seconds on a stage where his team had very little work to do.

Magnus Cort retains the polka dot jersey by a single point.

Wout Van Aert: "Of course I'm super happy, but with the green points up for grabs, today was a big chance to take points on a few of my competitors, so I'm really glad my team put everything in to chase down the breakaway, and then you have to finish it off.

"It was a pretty tough climb, with the flat part in between meant that everything uphill was really steep so I had to fight to stay in the wheel on Pogačar and his team mates."

Michael Matthews: "I waited too long. But even if I'd gone earlier this time I think Wout was just amazing out there today. I mean, my best team wrote a great race to leave me where I needed to be. And I mean, second again - hopefully I'm knocking on the door of that win. 

"I saw we had around 200 to go. It looks like a lot of guys. Tadej and Wout were boxing the left a little bit. So I was hoping get rid of a jump but yeah, just wasn't quick enough."

Wout Van Aert wins a thrilling uphill sprint in Lausanne. (Image credit: Getty images)

Pogačar on today's stage: "It was not that far away but it was a fun game. I maybe hesitated a little bit and Van Aert passed me with super speed. For sure it's a little disappointing but third place is still great." 

"I always like sprinting, when I was younger I was the smallest and almost always last. I'm really happy that now at least when it's going up 4 or 5k I can still do a solid sprint in the end. But still not as close as Matthews and Van Aert.

"Today was not the plan to win in the jersey, we said we'd sit back and tried to relax. BikeExchange and Jumbo-Visma had interest to pull and to win the stage from the bunch. We were thinking maybe today was breakaway day, but in the end it was an opportunity for us to take the win."

The fight for the line - Matthews, Van Aert and Pogačar sprint to the finish in Lausanne (image credit: Getty images)

So, let's remind ourselves of the standings following today's stage. Tadej Pogačar extends his lead in the overall classification by 4 seconds following his 3rd place on the stage - he now leads Jonas Vingegaard by 39 seconds. Geraint Thomas, Adam Yates and David Gaudu round out the top 5.

Van Aert retains the green jersey and adds to his lead in that competition - he now leads by 115 points from Fabio Jakobsen.

Magnus Cort retains the KOM polka dots and Tom Pidcock will continue in the white jersey of best young rider, on behalf of Tadej Pogačar.

Tadej Pogačar retains the maillot jaune on stage 8 of the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty images)

Tomorrow's stage begins in Aigle, as the peloton faces its first proper mountain test, heading into the rest day.

Join us for tomorrow's stage right here - 192.9km of racing from Aigle to Châtel Les Portes du Soleil.

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Sprint | Montrond (46.9 km)

Points at finish, kom sprint (4) côte du maréchet (75.4 km), kom sprint (3) côte des rousses (101.3 km), kom sprint (4) col de pétra félix (136.9 km), kom sprint (3) côte du stade olympique (186.3 km), youth day classification, team day classification, race information.

• Date: 09 July 2022
• Start time: 13:20
• Avg. speed winner: 44.164 km/h
• Race category: ME - Men Elite
• Distance: 186.3 km
• Points scale: GT.A.Stage
• UCI scale: UCI.WR.GT.A.Stage - TM2022
• Parcours type:
• ProfileScore: 87
• Vert. meters: 2556
• Departure: Dole
• Arrival: Lausanne
• Race ranking: 1
• Startlist quality score: 1551
• Won how: Sprint of small group
• Avg. temperature: 23 °C

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TOTAL: 3492 km

This will be the first Grand Départ in Italy and the 26th that’s taken place abroad  First finale in Nice. Due to the Olympic and Paralympic Games taking place in Paris, the race will not finish in the French capital for the first time.

Two time trials. 25 + 34 = 59km in total, the second of them taking place on the final Monaco>Nice stage. This will be the first time the race has seen a finale of this type for 35 years, the last occasion being the famous Fignon - LeMond duel in 1989.

Apennines (Italy), the Italian and French Alps, Massif Central and Pyrenees will be the mountain ranges on the 2024 Tour route.

The number of countries visited in 2024: Italy, San Marino, Monaco and France. Within France, the race will pass through 7 Regions and 30 departments.

The number of bonus points 8, 5 and 2 bonus seconds go to the first three classified riders, featuring at strategic points along the route (subject to approval by the International Cycling Union)these will have no effect on the points classification. Bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds will be awarded to the first three classified riders at road stage finishes.

Out of a total of 39, the locations or stage towns that are appearing on the Tour map for the first time . In order of appearance: Florence, Rimini, Cesenatico, Bologna, Piacenza, Saint-Vulbas, Gevrey-Chambertin, Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, Évaux-les-Bains, Gruissan, Superdévoluy, Col de la Couillole.

The number of sectors on white roads during stage nine, amounting to 32km in total .

The number of stages: 8 flat, 4 hilly, 7 mountain (with 4 summit finishes at Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d’Adet, Plateau de Beille, Isola 2000, Col de la Couillole), 2 time trials and 2 rest days.

The number of riders who will line up at the start of the Tour, divided into 22 teams of 8 riders each.

The height of the summit of the Bonette pass in the Alps, the highest tarmac road in France, which will be the “roof” of the 2024 Tour.

The total vertical gain during the 2024 Tour de France.

PRIZE MONEY

A total of 2,3 million euros will be awarded to the teams and riders including € 500,000 to the final winner of the overall individual classification .

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PREVIEW | Tour de France 2023 stage 8 - Van Aert and van der Poel favourites for hilly sprint

Preview . The race has temporarily left the mountains however stage 8 of the Tour de France will be an interesting day, with long distances and a hilly finale making it suited to the classics riders.

Now on stage 8 of the Tour the race moves to the northeast. It's a long day on the bike, one of the very few days that go over 200 kilometers. Another transition day with a pan-flat finale, however it will be a slight different finale.

Estimated start and finish times for Tour de France stage 8: 12:30-17:10CET

Heartbreak for Cavendish as Jasper Philipsen does it again on stage 7 of the Tour de France

It will all come down to that final hour of racing. A tough challenge, tension will be high and certainly the GC teams will swarm the front in an attempt to not be caught out, of both splits and possible crashes. The pace will go up, and in the final 50 kilometers there will be plenty small hilltops. It's a very rolling terrain, this is a day for the sprinters, but not a pure sprinter day. Some will be burnt throughout this hour of racing, some teams may push it too purposefully.

Click here to win $10,950/ € 10,000/£8,535 for only $1/ €1 /£0,85 with the Tour de France stage 8 (RtL)!!

There are even two categorized climbs with 16 and 9.5 kilometers to go, they are 1.3Km at 5.3% and 1.2Km at 5.4%. You can tell, they are big-ring climbs, but they will be felt, and with descents inbetween all these hilltops the peloton will find itself in a constant change of speed.

The riders ultimately head into Limoges. It's not a very technical finale, but the challenge here will be the gradients. The riders turn into the finishing straight which is 700 meters long at 4.3%, not a pure sprint and it will spice things up, surely with many to try and surprise.

Prize Money Tour de France 2023 - Full guide to how €2.308.029 will be split between teams

The Weather

A small southwestern breeze throughout a hot transition day. This will come as a positive for those eyeing a breakaway as they will essentially have a tailwind all throughout the afternoon, however it's not likely enough to give them an advantage. Most of the finale itself will have the wind from the back, but that will now be the case in the finishing straight where it will be covered, but a cross-headwind if felt.

Route Analysis | Profiles & Route Tour de France 2023

The Favourites

Wout van Aert & Cristophe Laporte - Jumbo-Visma are certain to eye this stage, it would be bad not to. This is most likely the best suited day for Wout van Aert, simultaneously I'd say the same for Christophe Laporte. As the Belgian has not yet gotten his win he will surely aim for it here, Jumbo will already have to be in front to protect Jonas Vingegaard, a finale like this is where the team's depth of rouleurs will come in handy. He would prefer a flat sprint after the hills but as the day is not too hard he will need the gradients for the purer sprinters to struggle.

Jasper Philipsen & Mathieu van der Poel - Alpecin have cards to play here, two of them. Mathieu van der Poel is very explosive and has here a good opportunity to win here. It's a well suited finale, the question is does van der Poel get the freedom and priority of the team? Jasper Philipsen is in my opinion relatively safe to win green and already has three wins, certainly he'd be willing to help. However the team would rather not sacrifice any and have both available to a sprint, but that'll be hard. I think both have the same chances of winning, leadout won't be as crucial here so on paper none have to leadout the other if the legs are good on both sides.

Mads Pedersen - Mads Pedersen has been eyeing green, this is his kind of finale with some gradients. Trek have the leadout, Pedersen has the form, ideally he'll be able to kick it off here but simultaneously he'll have to overcome a lot of strong competition.

Caleb Ewan - Caleb Ewan has so far looked very good in this Tour, with great legs in the sprints however above all strong positioning which used to be his big problem. Someone who has over time grown to struggle in the mountains, but on his best day he can win hilly stages - hell he even flew up the Poggio a few times, and the gradients will be similar here. If he has good position, this is a finale where he could in theory beat Philipsen, but the Belgian won't be the only other contender.

Tour de France 2023 Medical Report | Stage 7

I will argue that on paper, this would be a day suited to a breakaway, or late attack. I don't believe the chances much because there are so many sprinters and quality leadout that to hang on with a lead will be a monumental task. However simultaneously we have world-class puncheurs and rouleurs who may try something near the finale. Stefan Küng, Alberto Bettiol, Kasper Asgreen, Rémi Cavagna, Matej Mohoric, Krists Neilands, Rasmus Tiller and Victor Campenaerts will be riders to watch.

In fact this should be a luxurious finale. The quality of sprinters who can climb very well here is outstanding. Think Biniam Girmay , Bryan Coquard , Corbin Strong , Alex Aranburu , Fred Wright ... But that's not all, Danny van Poppel , Magnus Cort Nielsen , Luka Mezgec and Luca Mozzato ... You can understand why I think a breakaway or late attack stands little chances despite the good conditions. All these riders surely will have ideas and at least a rider or two to help with positioning, or chasing too. It's an insanely strong field, where even at their very best level some of these riders will be able to fight only for a Top10.

The fight doesn't end there however. The GC riders will have to be towards the front to avoid losing time in splits. Tadej Pogacar will also be an outsider for this finale, his explosivity is notable and he can certainly fight for bonifications. In the puncheur field too, the likes of Julian Alaphilippe and Tom Pidcock will also have a golden chance to take a premium victory. One thing is certain, whoever wins this stage will be a terrific rider, and it will likely be a finale that will stand the test of time.

TV Guide - Where and When to watch Tour de France 2023

Prediction Tour de France 2023 stage 8:

*** Wout van Aert, Jasper Philipsen ** Mathieu van der Poel, Mads Pedersen, Caleb Ewan, Bryan Coquard * Christophe Laporte, Biniam Girmay, Julian Alaphilippe, Alex Aranburu, Tom Pidcock, Magnus Cort Nielsen, Corbin Strong, Tadej Pogacar

Pick : Jasper Philipsen

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Tour de France 2021 - Stages, schedule, route map and key dates in the battle for yellow jersey

Updated 28/06/2021 at 11:44 GMT

A balanced route that leans slightly towards the general classification rider with a strong time trial, the 2021 Tour de France route is an intriguing prospect. There are as many as eight potential stages for the sprinters, as well as some epic climbing days – including a trip into the Alps in the first week, plus a double-ascent of Mont Ventoux to contend with.

Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic celebrate at the end of stage 21 of the Tour de France 2020

Image credit: Getty Images

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Tour de France 2021 - results and standings

Tour de france 2021 - the route.

• 26 June, Stage 1: Brest - Landerneau (197.8km, hilly)
• 27 June, Stage 2: Perros-Guirec - Mûr-de-Bretagne Guerlédan (183.5km, hilly)
• 28 June, Stage 3: Lorient - Pontivy (182.7km, flat)
• 29 June, Stage 4: Redon - Fougères (150.4km, flat)

30 June, Stage 5: Changé - Laval (27.2km, ITT)

• 1 July, Stage 6: Tours - Châteauroux (160.6km, flat)
• 2 July, Stage 7: Vierzon - Le Creusot (249.1km, hilly)
• 3 July, Stage 8: Oyonnax - Le Gran-Bornand (150.8km, mountains)

4 July, Stage 9: Cluses - Tignes (144.9km, mountains)

• 5 July, first rest day
• 6 July, Stage 10: Albertville - Valence (190.7km, flat)

7 July, Stage 11: Sorgues - Malaucène (198.9km, mountains)

8 july, stage 12: saint-paul-trois-châteaux - nîmes (159.4km, flat).

• 9 July, Stage 13: Nîmes - Carcassonne (219.9km, flat)
• 10 July, Stage 14: Carcassonne - Quillan (183.7km, hilly)

11 July, Stage 15: Céret - Andorra la Vella (191.3km, mountains)

• 12 July, second rest day
• 13 July, Stage 16: Pas de la Case - Saint-Gaudens (169km, mountains)

14 July, Stage 17: Muret - Saint-Lary-Soulan Col du Portet (174.8km)

• 15 July, Stage 18: Pau - Luz-Ardiden (129.7km, mountains)
• 16 July, Stage 19: Mourenx - Libourne (207km, flat)

17 July, Stage 20: Libourne – Saint-Émilion (30.8km, ITT)

• 18 July, Stage 21: Chatou - Paris Champs-Élysées (112km, flat)

Tour de France 2021 - route map

The Tour de France route for 2021

Image credit: Eurosport

Tour de France 2021 - KEY stages

Stage 5 profile: Changé – Laval (ITT)

Stage 9 profile: Cluses - Tignes

Stage 11 profile: Sorgues - Malaucène

Stage 12 profile: Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux - Nîmes

Stage 15 profile: Céret - Andorre-La-Vieille

Stage 17 profile: Muret - Col du Portet

Stage 20 profile: Libourne - Saint Emilion (ITT)

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Tour de France 2023 stage-by-stage guide: Route maps and profiles for all 21 days

The 2023 Tour de France has all the ingredients of a classic: two leading protagonists ready to tear lumps out of each other in reigning champion Jonas Vingegaard and the deposed Tadej Pogacar; entertaining multi-talented stage hunters Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel Julian Alaphilippe and Tom Pidcock; the great Mark Cavendish chasing a historic 35th stage win; all facing a brutal route with 56,000m of climbing and four summit finishes.

The Tour begins in the Spanish Basque country on Saturday 1 July and ends as ever on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on Sunday 23 July. Here is a stage-by-stage guide to how the race will unfold.

Stage 1: Bilbao to Bilbao, 182km

The 2023 Tour de France starts outside Bilbao’s iconic Guggenheim Museum, and winds north to the Bay of Biscay coastline before returning to the city where the stage winner will take the yellow jersey. This 182km opening stage is a hilly route with 3,000m of climbing featuring five categorised ascents, of which the final two are sharp and testing: they are tough enough to shake off the dedicated sprinters and open up early glory for the best puncheurs – those riders with the legs to get over short climbs and the power to surge away on the other side.

The profile of this stage is a great choice by organisers as it could suit just about anyone, from the speed of Wout van Aert to the climbing strength Tom Pidcock or Simon Yates – even two-time champion Tadej Pogacar.

Stage 2: Vitoria Gastiez to Saint Sebastian, 209km

The peloton will head east from Bilbao, touching more picturesque Basque coastline before arriving at the finish in San Sebastian. At more than 200km this is the longest stage of the 2023 Tour and, with the sizeable Jaizkibel climb (8.1km, 5.3% average gradient) shortly before the finish, this is even more tough on the legs than the first day. Another puncheur with the climbing strength to get over the steeper hills can capitalise, like two-time world champion Julian Alaphilippe.

Stage 3: Amorebieta to Bayonne, 187km

Stage three starts in Spain and ends in France, and the finale in Bayonne is ripe for a bunch sprint. Mark Cavendish will get his first shot of this race at trying to win a historic 35th Tour de France stage, but he will be up against a stacked field including former QuickStep teammate Fabio Jakobsen and the awesome speed of Wout van Aert. It will be fascinating to get a first glimpse of how the power riders stack up.

Stage 4: Dax to Nogaro, 182km

Another flat day and an even faster finish in store on the Circuit Paul Armagnac, a race track in Nogaro. The 800m home straight will almost certainly tee up a showdown between the Tour’s serious fast men.

Stage 5: Pau to Laruns, 163km

The first major mountains of the Tour come a little earlier than usual, as the peloton heads up into the high Pyrenees on day five. The Col de Soudet (15km, 7.2%) is one of the toughest climbs of the race and rears up halfway through this 163km route from Pau to Laruns. The category one Col de Marie Blanque (7.7km, 8.6%) guards the finish 20km out, and holds bonus seconds for those first over the top to incentivise the major contenders to come to the fore and fight it out.

Stage 6: Tarbes to Cauterets, 145km

This has the potential to be a thrilling day: the 145km route takes on the double trouble of the category one Col d’Aspin (12km, 6.5%) followed by the monstrous hors categorie Tourmalet (17.1km, 7.3%), before a fast ascent and a final climb to the summit finish at Cauterets (16km, 5.4%).

It is a day with several possible outcomes. If the yellow jersey is on the shoulders of a fast puncheur at the start then it may well be transferred to one of the general classification contenders by the end, should they decide to fight for the stage win. Then again, a breakaway could be allowed to escape which would open up victory – and perhaps the yellow jersey – to an outsider. The last time the Tour finished in Cauterets in 2015, breakaway specialist Rafal Majka surged clear of his fellow escapers to win. Keep an eye on Ineos’s Tom Pidcock, who could use the long, fast descent from the Tourmalet summit to speed to the front, as he did before winning atop Alpe d’Huez last year.

Stage 7: Mont de Marsan to Bordeaux, 170km

The first week of racing finishes with in the Tour’s second most visited city, Bordeaux, and it’s a third flat day for the sprinters to contest. Much will depend on who has best preserved their legs through the high mountains when they come to this tight, techinical finish on the banks of the Garonne river in the city centre.

Stage 8: Libourne to Limoges, 201km

A long, hilly day will see the peloton head 201km east from Libourne outside Bordeaux to Limoges. The lumpy stage should suit a puncheur but it is not a particularly taxing set of climbs – only three are categorised and the toughest of those is just 2.8km at 5.2%. So could a determined team carry their sprinter to the finish and the stage win? Look out for Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, superstars with the all-round talent to conquer the climbs and still finish fast.

Stage 9: Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat to Puy de Dome, 184km

The final stage before the relief of the first rest day is relatively flat and gentle – until a brutal finish atop the iconic Puy de Dome volcano, a 13.3km drag at a gruelling 7.7% average gradient that last appeared in the Tour in 1988. The summit finish will require a serious climber’s legs to clinch the stage win, and the general classification contenders may well let a breakaway get ahead and fight for that prize.

Rest day: Clermont-Ferrand, Monday 10 July.

Stage 10: Parc Vulcania to Issoire, 167km

The race resumes in the centre of France from Vulcania – a volcano-themed amusement park – where riders will embark on a hilly 167km route through the Volcans d’Auvergne regional park, finishing down in the small town of Issiore. With five categorised climbs, including the sizeable Col de Guery (7.8km at 5%) and the Croix Saint-Robert (6km at 6.3%), it will be a draining ride with virtually no sustained flat sections, and a long descent to the finish town. It looks like a good day to plot something in the breakaway, as the big GC contenders save their legs for bigger challenges to come.

Stage 11: Clermont Ferrand to Moulins, 180km

The final flat stage before the hard Alpine climbs will present an opportunity for those fast men who managed to haul themselves through the Pyrenees to get here – although there is still some climbing to be done including three category-four leg-sappers along the 180km route. The day begins in the university city of Clermont-Ferrand before the riders wind north and then east to Moulins, a small town on the Allier river. Any breakaway is likely to be reeled by those teams with dedicated sprinters eyeing their only opportunity for a stage win between the two rest days.

Stage 12: Roanne to Belleville-en-Beaujolais, 169km

The race caravan will shift east to start stage 12 in Roanne in the Loire region, before taking a 169km route to Belleville, situated on the Saone river north of Lyon. This has been categorised as a hilly or medium mountain stage, but it might feel harder than that by the time the peloton reaches the foot of the fifth categorised climb of the day, the Col de la Croix Rosier (5.3km at 7.6%). That should be enough to put off the best puncheurs like Van der Poel and Van Aert, because the stage winner will need strong climbing legs. The GC riders will want to conserve energy, so expect a breakaway to stay clear and fight amongst themselves.

Stage 13: Chatillon-Sur-Chalaronne to Grand Colombier, 138km

The first of three brutal stages that could decide the destiny of this year’s yellow jersey is only relatively short – 138km – but will provide a stern enough test to reveal any weaknesses in the major contenders. The peloton will enjoy a relatively flat and gentle first 75km from Chatillon-sur-Chalaronne before entering the Jura Mountains. A short climb and fast descent precedes the big climax: all 17.4km (7.1%) of the Grand Colombier providing an epic summit finish. This could be another day for a breakaway away to get free, but the overall contenders like Pogacar and Vingegaard will also fancy stage glory and the chance to stamp their authority on the race.

Stage 14: Annemasse to Morzine, 152km

Part two of this triple header of mountain stages sees the peloton ride into the Alps with a 152km route from Annemasse to Morzine ski resort. Three tough category one climbs line the road to the hors categorie Col de Joux Plane (11.6km at 8.5%), a brutally steep grind where bonus seconds await the first few over the top – and stage victory is the prize at the bottom. This is another potential spot for yellow jersey fireworks.

Stage 15: Les Gets to Saint Gervais, 180km

The last ride before the final rest day will take the peloton further east into the Alps, towards the French border with Italy . The 179km day is almost constantly up and down, with a fast descent before the final two climbs, and the summit finish atop Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc will require strong climbing legs once more.

Rest day: Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc, Monday 17 July.

Stage 16: Individual time trial from Passy to Combloux, 22km

This year’s home stretch begins with the only time trial of the race: a short, relatively flat 22km from Passy to Combloux in the shadow of Mont Blanc. The route includes one categorised climb, the steep but short Cote de Domancy (2.5km at 9.4%). This stage is unlikely to decide the yellow jersey or podium spots, but there is an opportunity here to make up crucial seconds for those that need them.

Stage 17: Saint Gervais to Courchevel, 166km

Put Wednesday 19 July in the diary: this will surely be the most brutal day of the entire Tour de France and it could be decisive. The 166km route features four big climbs, the last of which offers up this year’s Souvenir Henri Desgrange for the first rider over the highest point of the race. To get there the riders must endure a 28.1km slog averaging 6% gradient to the top of the Col de la Loze, towering in the clouds 2,304m above sea level. There are bonus points seconds up here too, before a short descent down to the finish at Courchevel.

A breakaway will probably form, but can they last the distance? Whatever happens up the road, the fight for the yellow jersey will be fierce – only the strongest handful of riders will be able to stand the pace and this will likely be the day that the 2023 winner is effectively crowned.

Stage 18: Moutiers to Bourg en Bresse, 186km

After a potentially explosive stage 17, stage 18 is classified as “hilly” but is really a relatively sedate 185km which the sprinters are likely to contest if their teams can haul in the inevitable breakaway. The big question is whether there will be many sprinters left in the peloton after such a demanding set of stages in the Alps. For those fast men still in the race, the descent into Bourg-en-Bresse precedes a technical finish, with roundabouts and a sharp corner before a swinging right-hand turn on to the home straight where the stage will be won and lost.

Stage 19: Moirans-en-Montagne to Poligny, 173km

Another flat day gives a further opportunity for those sprinters left in the field, as the peloton travels 173km from Moirans, near Grenoble, north to Poligny. The general classification contenders will be happy to rest their legs before one final push to Paris.

Stage 20: Belfort to Le Markstein, 133km

The final competitive stage of the Tour is a 133km ride from Belfort to Le Markstein ski resort in the Vosges mountains, and it offers just enough for one final attack to steal the yellow jersey, should the overall win still be on the line. The last two climbs of the day are both steep category one ascents: first the Petit Ballon (9.3km, 8.1%) followed by the Col du Platzerwasel (7.1km at 8.4%). Whoever is wearing yellow just needs to hang on to the wheel of their fiercest rival here, and that should be enough to see them home.

Stage 21: Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines to Paris Champs-Elysees, 115km

As is tradition, the peloton will transfer to Paris and ride a truce to the Champs-Elysees. The stage will start at France’s national velodrome, home of cycling for the 2024 Paris Olympics. It will finish with one final sprint: Cavendish has won four times in Paris and it would be a fitting way to end the race that has defined his career if he were to repeat the feat one last time. And once the race is done, the winner of the 2023 Tour de France will be crowned.