Biniam Girmay tightens grip on green jersey with second Tour de France stage win

1. Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty)- 216pts
2. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck)- 128
3. Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility)- 107
4. Arnaud de Lie (Lotto Dstny)- 92
5. Bryan Coquard (Cofidis)- 86

1. Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) 4hrs 04mins 50secs
2. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) Same time
3. Arnaud de Lie (Lotto Dstny) “
4. Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) “
5. Marijn Van Den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) “
6. Ryan Gibbons (Lidl-Trek) “
7. Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) “
8. Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious)
9. Alex Aranburu (Movistar) “
10. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) “

Enjoy!

1. Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) 
2. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 
3. Arnaud de Lie (Lotto Dstny) 
4. Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) 
5. Marijn Van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost)

Philipsen must have thought he was going to have it but Girmay just got it. Philipsen won four stages last year at the Tour but is yet to record a stage win so far this year.

Coquard goes from a long way out but he does not have the legs. It is Girmay, Philipsen and de Lie coming to the line but it is the Eritrean who claims his second stage win of this year’s Tour.

Who is going to get this? de Lie? Girmay?

Under the flamme rouge we go and the road is uphill. Cavendish is a long way back. Girmay has made his way up.

Coquard, Bennett and de Lie all at the front.

A few riders have gone off the road onto the grass but they stayed on their bikes.

Just 3km remaning. Cavendish and de Lie near the front.

There are plenty of lumps and bumps in this final so it will be a real test for the sprinters. Who has the freshest legs?

Jakobsen (Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL) will not be contesting this sprint as he has dropped off.

Cavendish is near the front with four teammates in front of him.

Back to the action, we have under 10km to go on stage eight. Who is going to be victorious in just over ten minutes?

Breaking away from the action, it is awful to bring you news of the death of Norwegian rider Andre Drege, who has died in a fatal crash at the Tour of Austria. He was just 25-years-old. Our thoughts are with his family.

It has been a noble ride from Abrahamsen but there will be no stage victory for him today. The peloton have now caught him with around 14km to go.

We have just heard the EF Education-EasyPost riders told over the team radio to push it and makes things hard.

The peloton are just 20 seconds behind Abrahamsen now.

There are no categorised climbs remaining but there is still a bit of climbing left between now and the finish.

It is not a flat finish either so not the easiest of finishes for the sprinters.

We have under 20km left on today’s stage and Abrahamsen’s lead is now down to just 36 seconds.

Tribute to Charles de Gaulle:

The gap to Abrahamsen is now down to 50 seconds.

The peloton is splitting up as the pace goes up. The likes of Michael Matthews (Jayco-Alula) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) are off the back.

The gap is now down under the 90-second mark and Abrahamsen’s hopes are fading with every kilometre that goes by.

The peloton have had to take it so easy through these drenched streets.

Abrahamsen has hit some very wet roads so extra care is needed. When the peloton come through there are going to be some nerves and it would not be a surprise to see a crash. The gap is just over two minutes.

Over the last 5km the gap has stabilised a little and Abrahamsen has only lost a handful of seconds in that time.

There will be a lot of neutrals wanting to see Abrahamsen hold on and see out the win but the peloton are closing in and it feels inevitable sadly for him now that he will be caught. The gap currently stands at two minutes and 53 seconds.

The peloton have brought the gap to Abrahamsen now down below the three-and-a-half-minute mark. They are reeling him in.

Here is what the king of the mountains classification looks like with no more points available for that jersey left today:

1. Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), 33pts 
2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), 20 
3. Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), 16

The pace in the peloton has stepped up but Abrahamsen still has a four-minute advantage.

The peloton is now all back together. They are over four minutes down still on Abrahamsen, who has taken the one king of the mountains point over the top of the Côte Giey-sur-Aujon.

Abrahamsen has hit the Côte Giey-sur-Aujon, a category four climb 1.2km in length.

There has been a split in the peloton, with Cavendish, van der Poel and van Aert amongst those who are in the second peloton, 20 behinds the first peloton.

For the first time in quite a while the gap to Abrahamsen from the peloton dips below five minutes.

There has been a crash in the peloton as Warren Barguil (Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL) is one of those to go down. He has some grazes and bruises and some of his kit is ripped. Sandy Dujardin (TotalEnergies) was also involved.

Abrahamsen has undergone quite a body transformation having gained 20kg from earlier in his career. Having been obsessed with his weight earlier in the career, he feels he is now reaping the rewards of putting that extra weight on. He has been speaking about that transformation on the Cycling Podcast:

It was crazy. My body was completely different. When I started cycling it was very popular to be very skinny.

All my favourite riders were very skinny and I was looking up to them. I was always hoping to be 60 kilo but that was hard especially because I was always hungry. I felt like I hadn’t progressed in my career as I was hoping for.

I had to do something to be better. I know my muscles do better when they get more fuel, so I started to fuel more. I gained some weight, 20 kilo, and after that I feel strong and stronger every year.

The peloton have brought Abrahamsen’s lead down by just under a minute in the last 10km but still a lot of work to do to haul in the Norwegian.

Biniam Girmay took 17 points at the intermediate sprint and, with Mads Pedersen pulling out of the Tour, he holds a good lead in the points classification. Let us hear from the Eritrean now ahead of today’s stage:

Abrahamsen takes another king of the mountains point to extend his lead but he will be thinking about winning this stage. His confidence will be growing with every kilometre that passes by and I suspect the peloton will be a little nervous now.

Abrahamsen has just hit the Côte de Santenoge, a category four climb which is just over a kilometre in length. His lead over the peloton is at six minutes. How much will the peloton be panicking or do they feel like they have it under control? We have one climb left up the Côte Giey-sur-Aujon, which is another category four climb.

Abrahamsen has a lead of around six minutes as we have 90km remaining on stage eight.

Mads Pedersen was in the top three in the points classification but after he abandoned ahead of today’s stage, here is what the top three looks like in the quest for the green jersey:

1. Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), 166 pts
2. Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), 107 
3. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), 98

We are under the 100km to go mark.

Mark Cavendish had been dropped earlier but is safely back in the peloton, who are six minutes behind Abrahamsen currently. Speaking ahead of the stage, Cavendish said that he does not believe that today is likely to be a day for the sprinters:

Intermediate sprint results at Lamargelle:

1. Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), 20pts
2. Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), 17
3. Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché-Wanty), 15 
4. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), 13 
5. Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), 11

We brought you the news earlier that Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) had abandoned ahead of today’s stage. Here he is speaking about pulling out and now focusing on the Olympics:

The peloton are at the intermediate sprint and it is Girmay who is second and takes 17 points, helping his position at the top of the points classification. Philipsen can only take fourth as Intermarché-Wanty use Gerben Thijssen to great effect to deny Philipsen third.

Three teams look like they are preparing their sprinters for this intermediate sprint; Intermarché-Wanty for Biniam Girmay, Alpecin Deceuninck for Jasper Philipsen and Lotto Dstny for Arnaud de Lie.

The weather is not particularly pleasant as riders have to keep putting rain jackets on and then taking them off and then putting them back on again.

Abrahamsen comes across the line first at the intermediate sprint to take the full 20 points. We will have a sprint when the peloton reach that point in around five minutes.

Jegat has sat up and is now back in the peloton, which is over five minutes down on Abrahamsen as we approach the intermediate sprint at Lamargelle.

You may have seen the incredible scenes during the individual time trial yesterday where Julian Bernard (Lidl-Trek) on his home roads was lapping up the support and even stopped to give his wife a kiss and his son a hug in a moment that nearly everyone enjoyed. However, for some reason the UCI did not agree as Bernard has been fined 200 Swiss francs (£174). The UCI said in a statement that his behaviour had been inappropriate and damaged the image of the sport. In response Bernard posted this on social media:

“I’m sorry UCI for damaging the image of the sport. But I’m willing to pay 200 Swiss francs every day and experience this moment again.”

Good news for the sprinters like Cavendish is that the slow pace of the peloton has allowed them to get back on. They are nearly four minutes down on Abrahamsen. Jegat is over two minutes back on our current leader.

Result of the climb up the Côte de Verrey-sous-Salmaise:

1. Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), 2pts
2. Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies), 1pt

Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) has attacked out of the peloton and has passed the EF Education-EasyPost duo. He is over a minute down though on Abrahamsen. The peloton is a further minute back.

Here is a round-up of the action so far. The EF Education-EasyPost duo of Neilson Powless and Stefan Bissegger along with Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) were the first to attack. Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ) tried to join the front group but failed. Abrahamsen took maximum king of the mountains points up the Côte de Vitteaux and then Abrahamsen went away on his own. Despite it being set for a sprinters’ day, the likes of Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan) have dropped out of the main peloton and are trying to fight their way back on.

Here are the results from the climb up the Côte de Vitteaux, the first climb of the day: 

1. Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), 2pts
2. Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), 1pt

Good afternoon and welcome to stage eight at the 2024 Tour de France. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) took his maiden victory at the Tour on stage seven yesterday after winning the individual time trial from Nuits-Saint-Georges to Gevrey-Chambertin. Tour debutant Evenepoel clocked 28 minutes and 52 seconds to beat Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) by 12 seconds as the Slovenian retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey. In the closing stages Evenepoel thought he may have had an issue but he finished off a great ride to take the stage.

Fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) took third place, 34 seconds off the pace and three seconds ahead of defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), who finished fourth. Overall in the general classification, Pogacar leads Evenepoel by 33 seconds and defending champion Vingegaard by 1 minute and 15 seconds.

Today’s stage is 183.4km from Semur-en-Auxois to Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises. There are a series of category three and four climbs on the route today. Ahead of the stage Lidl-Trek have announced that Mads Pedersen has abandoned the Tour after a crash on stage five. Although no fracture was found in the x-rays, the team have said that he the decision was made in “Mads’ best interest to stop racing in order to undergo more detailed examinations to assess his injuries further.”

Stay with us for all the action on stage eight.