Key Takeaways: Tour de France Stage 8

Breaking down what we learned on a stressful day through northern France & the small decisions that decided the stage win

Not content with making history on Stage 3, Biniam Girmay followed the wheels of his Intermarché-Wanty team to win his second Tour de France stage with textbook execution in a slow-speed sprint five days later in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises in France’s north-east. Behind, Jasper Philipsen came in second yet again after being isolated from his struggling Alpecin-Deceuninck team and fading in the final few meters, while Tour rookie sensation Arnaud de Lie once again found himself boxed in and unable to tap into his unstoppable turn of speed.

The fight for the General Classification didn’t see any material changes, but the constant stress and high speeds that permeated the day meant the top contenders were fighting to be in position all day, which added a significant amount of fatigue to their legs on the eve of a potentially hugely important gravel stage.

Stage Top Five:
1) Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) +0
2) Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0
3) Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny) +0
4) Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) +0
5) Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) +0

Green (Points) Jersey
1) Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty)-216pts
2) Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceunick) 128pts
3) Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility)-107pts

Current GC Top Five:
1) Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) +0
2) Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +33
3) Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1’15
4) Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +1’36
5) Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +2’16

Stage 8 Race Notebook

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182.8km-to-go: As soon as the stage starts, Neilson Powless rips clear with his EF teammate Stefan Bissegger and breakaway king Jonas Abrahamsen.

159.8km: Despite the three riders up the road all being massively powerful riders who would give the peloton a tough time bringing back, EF decides they can do better than these long odds and attempts to have Alberto Bettiol launch Ben Healy off the front of the peloton and have him bridge the 1’40 gap to the breakaway.

158.6km: However, after getting the gap down to 1’11, Healy’s effort stalls out after he is marked by Lotto’s Maxim van Gils, who is responding to and sitting on dangerous moves to increase the chances of a sprint finish for his teammate Arnaud de Lie.

152.4km-130km: When the Healy bridge fails, EF throws in the towel and calls their two riders back to the peloton while Abrahamsen pushes on and quickly builds up a gap of over five minutes. Considering how strong these three would be together, I still think EF would have been wise to roll the dice with this move instead of going for the sprint with Van den Berg.

120.9km: At the intermediate sprint point, Girmay uses a great leadout from his Intermarché team to win, with his leadout man coming in second and pushing his main Green Jersey rival Jasper Philipsen down to third, which adds to his ever-growing advantage.

26.9km: On the run-in to the finish, the speed is incredibly high to ensure Abrahamsen is caught, and nerves are high, with the main GC contenders all fighting to be at the front. While Roglič and Vingegaard have full teams in front of them, Pogačar is surfing on the wheels of the Visma train due to not having as much help from his UAE team.

1.5km: Coming into the final km, Philipsen is hugging the crowded right-hand side of the road with limited support from his Alpecin team, while Girmay doesn’t have to fight for position and can ride on the more exposed, less crowded, left-hand side due to having three teammates with him. Shortly after this, Van der Poel would drop off.

800m: Girmay, despite having three teammates with him, is positioned near the front while Philipsen is buried deep in the bunch.

700m: As Philipsen fights to move up without any teammates (made tougher when the Intermarché leadout riders drop back through the field), Girmay is sitting in perfect position up front.

500m: When Cofidis’ Bryan Coquard’s leadout goes too early, Girmay sees an opportunity and latches onto Coquard’s wheel in third. Behind, De Lie sits in fifth while Philipsen uses significant energy moving up to sit right on his wheel in sixth.

350m: However, with Philipsen isolated from his leadout, he doesn’t have the protection he is used to and is pushed off De Lie’s wheel. Again, he is forced to use a significant amount of energy just to fight for and hold position while Girmay is having a clean ride.

250m: Philipsen, needing to get even with Girmay quickly, squeezes through a gap on the left-hand barriers.

150m: After this maneuver, daylight opens up for Philipsen, who appears to have a clear path to victory. Oddly, one of Philipsen’s Alpecin teammates is sprinting up the right-hand side of the road, potentially showing some serious miscommunication within the team.

100m: Philipsen sprints into open space with a massive gear and is immediately ahead of Girmay.

Finish: But Girmay, with a much higher cadence, pulls ahead of Philipsen, who looks bogged down on the slight uphill, to win the stage. Behind, Arnaud de Lie, who looks like he is about to unleash a massive turn of speed before realizing he is boxed in, gets third.

Three Key Takeaways