Key events
Here is the route profile of stage eight:
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Today’s official race briefing comes from French ex-professional cyclist, Jean-Marc Marino:
Stage eight, Saint-Méen-le-Grand to Laval Espace Mayenne, 171.4km, [is] a mostly flat stage with a final one kilometre climb at 2%. But it will take a sprinter who’s not worn out from previous days to win this stage.
The stage starts in Saint-Méen-le-Grand, birthplace of Louison Bobet, one of Brittany’s legends. Then we pass through Romillé, the home town of Gérard Huet, and Ballots, birthplace of Jacky Durand.
There will be an intermediate sprint in Vitré, a finish location of the Route Adélie. There’s a very slight bump, 15km from the finish, but it’s only 900m at 3.8%. Then a technical section through Laval leads into the finale, with a one kilometre uphill false flat in front of the Espace Mayenne. A fairly fresh sprinter will be needed to take the win.
Stage eight: Saint-Méen-le-Grand to Laval, 171km
Here’s a look at today’s stage, Saturday 12 July: Saint-Méen-le-Grand to Laval, 171.4km, with William Fotheringham’s preview:
The start tips its hat to the triple winner Louison Bobet, the baker’s boy from Saint Méen, then the route heads east; if the prevailing wind – westerly – does its thing, this will be very fast, but the scenario is well trodden: early doomed break featuring lowly French teams cheered on by the local crowd – think Arkéa, Cofidis, Total Energies – and a sprint finish for Philipsen and company after five days’ waiting.
The preview was written before the Tour, so Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won’t be in the mix today after having to withdaw from the race on stage three. It’ll be a day for the sprinters though, so keep an eye out for Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quick-Step).
Preamble
After a series of hilly stages over the past couple of days, the peloton will head out today on a 171.4km flat route from Saint-Méen-le-Grand to Laval, with an elevation gain of 1,700m. There’s only one climb, the category four Côte de Nuillé sur Vicoin, coming 16km before the finish. It’s a short climb at 900m with an average gradient of 3.8% so it shouldn’t be a problem for the sprinters who will be eyeing up a stage win today.
With that in mind, sprinters such as Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quick-Step) are expected to be in the mix, but there could also be a surprise from lesser known names. I’ll also be keeping an eye out to see how Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG), Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) tackle that short climb before the finish. As always, I’d love to hear your predictions so please do email them to me.
The peloton are scheduled to roll out at 1.10pm CEST (12.10am BST) and the finish is estimated to be at about 5.04pm CEST (4.04pm BST).
If you want to catch up on yesterday’s stage first, here is Jeremy Whittle’s stage seven race report from Mûr-de-Bretagne:
And a refresher of who’s who and the teams competing in this year’s Tour:
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