With several hills, stage 8 certainly offered potential for a breakaway victory. But in the end, only Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) formed the day's escape group, which was caught again early on. This led to a mass finish after 183.4 kilometres in Colombey-les-deux-Eglises, where Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) secured victory on the uphill finishing straight. Second place went to Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Decuninck) ahead of Arnaud de Lie (Lotto-Dstny). Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) finished in fourth place.
It was Girmay's second stage win in this Tour de France, which significantly increased his lead in the points classification. He now has 216 points to his name, while his closest rival Philipsen has 128. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), a rival for this special classification, did not start the 8th stage after crashing.
There were no changes at the top of the overall standings. Tadej Pogacar (Team UAE Emirates) continues to lead by 33 seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick-Step). He is followed by Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike, +1:15) and Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +1:36).
Tour de France 2024 - Results: the top 10 of stage 8
- Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), 4:04:50 hours
- Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Decuninck), +s.t.
- Arnaud de Lie (Lotto - Dstny), +s.t.
- Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech), +s.t.
- Marijn van den Bergh (EF Education EasyPost), +s.t.
- Ryan Gibbons (Lidl-Trek), +s.t.
- Anthony Turgis (TotoalEnergies), +s.t.
- Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), +s.t.
- Alex Aranburu (Movistar), +s.t.
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step), +s.t.
The current standings in the overall standings
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 31:21.13 hours
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:33
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) +1:15
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +1:36
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +2:16
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +2:17
- Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +2:31
- Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) +3:35
- Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) +4:03
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +4:36
How the 8th stage of the Tour de France 2024 went
With many changes of direction and undulating terrain with some easier climbs, the stage seemed predestined on paper for breakaway attempts. And with Neilson Powless, Stefan Bissegger (EF Education EasyPost) and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), a trio quickly came together after the start and were soon able to pull away from the field by around two minutes. At the first mountain classification of the day, the Côte de Vitteaux (3rd category), Abrahamsen then secured the two points as the winner after 24 kilometres as the leader of the mountain classification.
Abrahamsen as solo breakaway rider on stage 8
Meanwhile, there were further attacks in the peloton, with Ben Healy and Alberto Bettiol among the riders from EF Education EasyPost going on the offensive, but they didn't get far. Later on, Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) and Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) went on the chase without success. At the front, Powless and Bissegger gave up after around 30 kilometres, leaving Abrahamsen to continue the escape as a soloist.
From then on, the Norwegian secured the further mountain classifications at the Côte de Villy-En-Auxois (4th category) after 32 kilometres and Côte de Verrey-Sous-Salmaise (3rd category) after 38 kilometres. His maximum lead was 6:10 minutes. Abrahamsen also won the intermediate sprint in Lamargelle after 59 kilometres, with Girmay coming second from the peloton.
The last mountain classification of the day on the Côte de Santenoge (4th category) after 96 kilometres also went to Abrahamsen, securing him all seven mountain points of the day and extending his lead in the special classification to 13 points over Pogacar. In the peloton, Intermarché-Wanty, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Cofidis organised the chase in the meantime. However, Abrahamsen defended a lead of around three minutes with 50 kilometres to go.
Phil Bauhaus has to pull out early
However, the rainy and cool day took its toll - both on the race leader Abrahamsen and the peloton. The gap to Abrahamsen dropped rapidly to 40 seconds with 20 kilometres to go, but some riders also dropped out of the peloton, including Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) and Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla).
Abrahamsen's solo escape came to an end with 15 kilometres to go. The last ten kilometres offered two uncategorised hills for the peloton, and EF Education EasyPost in particular put in a lot of work at the front. This cost other sprinters such as Fabio Jakobsen (dsm-firmenich PostNL) the connection to the group. But overall, the peloton stayed together for the most part. There was a long bunch sprint on the uphill finishing straight - with Girmay as the day's winner.
