Tour de France: Stage 8 preview
Stage 8 map, profile and Chris Boardman video preview
Belfort – Porrentruy
Distance: 157.5km
Highest point: 1,046m
Category: Medium mountains
The stage of seven hills
This stage is not unlike the one bagged by Sylvain Chavanel at Les Rousses in 2010. There’s no summit finish but there are seven climbs in just 157km and the last three all have very testing sections. It would be no surprise to see Chavanel and partner-in-crime Jérôme Pineau in the break today, perhaps with a few other French hopefuls who can climb well and can offer a decent sprint on the drag up to the finish – Sandy Casar and Pierrick Fédrigo, for example. The final ascent of the Col de la Croix is a chance for the climbers. The summit is only 16km from the finish. A good descender might fancy his chances too.
Allan Peiper: "We did some of the stage in Romandie and it is a hard one. The roads are not easy and they’re also quite technical. It will be the type of stage that will suit Sylvain Chavanel if a breakaway goes with some good climbers."
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Latest on Cyclingnews
-
Women's WorldTour – The definitive guide for 2025
Everything you need to know about the top-tier professional racing series, teams, races and world ranking -
Alia Shafi delivers GC victory at Redlands Bicycle Classic with Fount Cycling 'guns a blazing' start to finish
Eder Frayer scores close GC victory for men by 10 seconds over Quinn Felton -
Relegation Watch 2025: XDS Astana's momentum accelerates as Picnic-PostNL, Arkéa-B&B Hotels stall in Spring Classics
XDS Astana on track to surpass Picnic-PostNL, Cofidis -
'The possibilities are endless' - Jakob Söderqvist set to move up to the WorldTour with Lidl-Trek in 2026
'Stepping into the WorldTour team means the start of a new chapter in my sporting career' says Swedish time triallist