Stage 8 was just the second opportunity of the Tour de France for the race's pure sprinters, five whole days after their last chance on stage 3, and after 171.4 kilometres of cruising through Brittany, it was Lidl-Trek's Jonathan Milan who scored the first Tour stage win of his career on debut.
Wout van Aert finished second in Milan's wake, despite having no team support in the finale, while Mathieu van der Poel delivered Kaden Groves to a fairly distant third across the line. Stage 3 winner Tim Merlier had been hampered by a puncture 13 km from the line, and though he returned to the bunch, the European champ was unable to trouble his sprinting rivals.
While the fast men occupied themselves with the fast and furious finale, stage 8 was a chance for the GC riders to catch their breath, and even recover from stage 7's crash on the part of João Almeida and Santiago Buitrago among others. That said, Jonas Vingegaard's nerves were on show as the pace picked up towards the finale, the Dane putting his nose in the wind to ensure his safety before the 'sprint zone' at 5 km to go; race leader Tadej Pogačar, meanwhile, was content and confident to nestle deeper in the pack, his race lead safe and sound for another day.
[race_result id=17 stage_id=86003 count=10 gc=0 year=2025]
[race_result id=17 stage_id=86003 count=10 gc=10 year=2025]
How it happened
- After setting off from the home town of celebrated post-WWII French cyclist Louison Bobet, who won three Tours in a row from 1953-55, the breakaway of the day waited until after the intermediate sprint in Vitré at the halfway point of the 171.4-kilometre stage.
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