Favorites stage 8 Tour de France 2025 | Finally another sprint opportunity, or will the wind ruin it again?

The riders will start on Saturday in Saint-Méen-le-Grand, where the peloton will roll out for the 171.4-kilometer stage. The route mainly heads eastbound and is almost entirely flat. The question is what kind of breakaway will get away in the opening phase, as after 85.5 kilometers there will be an intermediate sprint.

In Vitré there may still be some points up for grabs for the green jersey, but it’s also possible that a slightly larger group has already escaped by then. In any case, the peloton has plenty of time to reel in the early breakaway, as after the intermediate sprint there are still more than 85 kilometers left to the finish.

Immediately after Vitré, the route continues in a southeasterly direction, which means that the wind, which will be moderate, will come somewhat from the side. After the crosswind chaos of day 1, the riders will be alert, and the sprint teams will do everything they can not to be surprised again.

With a little over 40 kilometers to go, the route turns directly east again, after which it soon turns left towards the north. There, the peloton, riding into a headwind, will approach the only climb of the day, namely the Côte de Nuillé-sur-Vicoin. This little bump is only 900 meters long with an average gradient of 3.8%, but a very optimistic attacker might give it a go. From the top, it is just over 16 kilometers to the finish.

The peloton will thunder towards the 4-kilometer-to-go marker at full speed, because not long after that there is a bend to the right. At 3 kilometers from the line, there is a roundabout that the riders take 180 degrees, after which two small roundabouts are taken straight ahead.

With about 1500 meters to go, it is almost straight as an arrow, although the road does not run perfectly straight to the finish. First, there is a slight bend to the right, then to the left, before the riders finish on the Boulevard Pierre Elain. It is not completely flat: the final kilometer slightly rises, making the sprint just a bit tougher.

Times
Start: 1:10 PM (local time) | 07:10 AM (EST)
Finish: 5:04 PM (local time) | 11:04 AM (EST)

It will be warm again on Saturday for sure. In the finish town of Laval, the mercury will rise to around 33 degrees Celsius under a lovely summer sunshine. The wind will blow with moderate strength from the northeast. This means that for most of the stage, the riders will have a (head)wind from the front, although there will also be some sections where the wind comes from the side.

Finally, another chance for the sprinters! For that reason, attention will mainly be on the sprinters who were in contention in stage 3, when Tim Merlier won. The Belgian from Soudal Quick-Step narrowly beat Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) in the streets of Dunkirk. On paper, they are the two fastest men in the peloton, especially after the withdrawal of Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck).

Looking at the rest of the top 5 from Monday, we see Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious), Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X), and Pavel Bittner (Picnic PostNL). These are three riders who will again hope to be the big surprise of the day on Saturday. Wærenskjold was also well placed in stage 1, when the Norwegian impressively finished third, while Picnic PostNL also has Tobias Lund Andresen, another very fast man.

Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) was actually a bit disappointing on Monday with his sixth place, although he was mainly happy afterwards that he had made it through safely. Last year’s winner of the points classification will be hoping for better on Saturday, as he finished second behind Philipsen in the opening stage.

The big question is: what will Alpecin-Deceuninck do after Philipsen's withdrawal? On Monday, in the stage where the 'Flame from Ham' dropped out during the intermediate sprint, the Belgian team played the Kaden Groves card. The Australian then finished seventh in Dunkirk. Mathieu van der Poel had already indicated earlier that his team would go for Groves in the flat sprints.

For Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, it remains to be seen how Jordi Meeus is doing. The Belgian crashed hard on Monday in stage 3, but fortunately was able to stay in the Tour. If Meeus is not fit enough to sprint, the team also has Dutch champion Danny van Poppel as a backup.

Anyone else? Definitely! Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla) will hope to repeat his trick from last year in Dijon on Saturday. For Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-Easypost), it remains to be seen how much trouble he still has from his crash in the opening stage, while Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ), Arnaud De Lie (Lotto), Jake Stewart, Pascal Ackermann (both Israel Premier-Tech), Amaury Capiot, Arnaud Démare (both Arkéa-B&B Hotels), and Alberto Dainese (Tudor) all have fast legs too.

Top favorites:Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek)
Outsiders:Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious), Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla)