2025 Tour de France Stage 8 Report: A flat day with no action was then finished by a simply magnifcent sprint by Tour débutant Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) to take his maiden tour victory.
We were one rider short today after Eddie Dunbar (Jayco) didn’t start following his injuries from yesterday meaning that there were 176 riders taking on today’s flat stage to Laval. Other riders that were involved in yesterday’s high speed crash did continue today and they were hopeful of an ‘easy’ transition stage.
Almeida started today with lots of bandages plus a broken rib but was confident and upbeat at the start stating that he’ll be able to get to Paris and help Pogacar to claim another Tour title
A flat day ahead for the riders – surely one for the sprinters?
With a tired peloton after a tough first 7 stages plus a headwind promised all day, nobody was keen to break away so the action was minimal to say the least. Intermarché took control of the peloton along with US Champ, Quinn Simmons and this alliance were happy to cruise at a comfortable 42kph at the head of the peloton.
Intermarché and Quinn Simmons controlled the peloton all day for their respective sprinters Girmay & Milan
We had to wait more than 80km until the first action occurred at the intermediate sprint but even that was a half hearted effort won by Milan (Lildl-Trek) ahead of Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) & Anthony Turgis (Total Energies). Turgis’ Total Energies teammates then tried to break away immediately after the sprint but this wasn’t received well by Quinn Simmons & co. and the move was shut down almost before it started.
The French squad weren’t finished though and 10km later the duo of Mathieu Burgaudeau and Matteo Vercher attacked together and worked hard to establish a break.
Finally we had a breakaway!
The French duo worked well but their almost 70km effort was never going to make it to the finish and with 10km to go the peloton was all back together….almost!
In fact one of the big favorites for the stage, Tim Merlier had punctured with 12.5km remaining and was out the back chasing, as was stage outsider Paul Penhoet (Groupama-FDJ) who had also punctured with 11km remaining. Both were able to get back into the peloton but their efforts would surely cost them in the slight uphill stage finish.
Going into the last kilometers no one team had control as the bunch was strung out and in the closing stages it was Mathieu Van der Poel leading out his Australian sprinter Kaden Groves but just behind was the big, green jersey wearing, Jonathan Milan and he was set to pounce.
When Van der Poel finished his leadout and Groves launched, Milan did the same and only Wout Van Aert (Visma) could follow. Yes, Van Aert could follow but he couldn’t even try to come around the big Italian and Milan in his first Tour de France took his first ever stage and did so in green! A dream come true for the Italian and with this victory Milan now takes the lead in the green jersey competition which was being led by Pogacar at the start of the stage.
A great win by Milan and a well deserved team victory for Lidl-Trek and in particular Quinn Simmons who worked all day on the front. A repeat for the Lidl-Trek boys tomorrow?
MVP for Quinn Simmons?
Tomorrow’s Stage 11 – surely another sprint?
Results Stage 11:
01 Milan Jonathan Lidl-Trek 03:50:26
02 van Aert Wout Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 00
03 Groves Kaden Alpecin-Deceuninck + 00
04 Ackermann Pascal Israel-Premier Tech + 00
05 De Lie Arnaud Lotto + 00
06 Lund Andresen Tobias Team Picnic PostNL + 00
07 Coquard Bryan Cofidis + 00
08 Dainese Alberto Tudor Pro Cycling Team + 00
09 Albanese Vincenzo EF Education-EasyPost + 00
10 Fredheim Stian Uno-X Mobility + 00
General Classification After Stage 11:
01 Pogacar Tadej UAE Team Emirates-XRG 29:48:30
02 Evenepoel Remco Soudal Quick-Step + 54
03 Vauquelin Kévin ARKEA-B&B HOTELS + 01:11
04 Vingegaard Jonas Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 01:17
05 van der Poel Mathieu Alpecin-Deceuninck + 01:29
06 Jorgenson Matteo Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 01:34
07 Onley Oscar Team Picnic PostNL + 02:49
08 Lipowitz Florian Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe + 03:02
09 Roglic Primoz Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe + 03:06
10 Skjelmose Mattias Lidl-Trek + 03:43
11 Healy Ben EF Education-EasyPost + 03:55
12 Johannessen Tobias Halland Uno-X Mobility + 04:28
13 Mas Enric Movistar Team + 04:35
14 Gall Felix Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale + 04:49
15 Rodriguez Carlos INEOS Grenadiers + 04:51
The post TOUR’25 Stage 8: Milan In Green! appeared first on PezCycling News.
