Tour de France 2024: stage eight heads to Colombey-les-Deux-Églises – live | Tour de France 2024

4km: De Lie and Demare, two Arnauds suited to this course are well placed. Pogacar is in the pack too. Will he have a dig over that ramp finish?

5km to go: EF Education are asking their riders to put the sprinters under but the headwind is stopping anyone putting the hammer down. It’s the whole pack spread across the road.

8km to go: Wout van Aert is doing his turn on the front, the suggestion he is working for teammate Christope Laporte of his Jumbo-Visma team. Cavendish is in the pack, and well set up.

10km to go: Elsewhere in the world of professional cycling comes some very sad news. It will be a sombre night among the riders once the news is widespread.

Abrahamsen is caught

15km to go: The bravery of Abrahamsen, who keeps pedalling on and on as the pack closes as he attacks the first of these uncategorised climbs. He stays out in front as the teams start to group together. Mark Cavenidsh is well placed, four rows back.

16km to go: It’s a case of the leading teams leaving Abrahamsen as some kind of marionette off the front. EF Energy’s radio man – Charly Wegelius – is telling his team that their route to a stage win is to make this bit harder for everyone is to attack the next two climbs.

18km to go: Another climb and one that might break what’s left of Abrahamsen, whose advantage drops under 30 seconds. Colombey-les-Deux-Églises looks relatively dry.

Just 20km to go

25km to go: Splits in the pack as EF Education and Jumbo-Visma take up the pace. Pogacar seems a little isolated in the pack. His team are mostly climbers, brought in to deal with Vingegaard. A. General de Gaulle is carved into a local hill. The gap to poor Abrahamsen drops ever down towards a minute. The pace has dropped Michael Matthews and Alexander Kristoff to the back.

30km to go: Bit of action in the peloton here, as they travel through the Marne valley, the city of Bologne. The road is soggy, lots of clouds of moisture, 62 km/h and the gap closes to under two minutes, even as they whip round a series of sharp bends. The wind is whipping in.

35km to go: Abrahamsen has been going since Kilometre Zero, though he’s going to be way short of the record: “In 1947 Albert Bourlon won a Tour de France stage with the longest solo breakaway of all time – 253km.”

He lived to the age of 96, too, died only in 2013.

40km to go: The skies are grey but the sun peeks out as the pack’s deficit drops under three minutes. This has been one hell of a ride from Abrahamsen.

50km to go as Abrahamsen forges on

55km to go: Feels like all sides are settling in for the final push. At four minutes, Abrahamsen’s advantage is a little too small to hold on to. The finish is up a small hill, which may favour the one-day riders rather than pure sprinters.

60km to go: They are closing to 4’ 15” now, as he hits the final categorised climb, taking the point on offer and he will soon be amid some winds. Mark Renshaw on the Astana radio tells his team the terrain will get easier beyond the climb. Do Cav’s team fancy another heist? The Manx man will be used to the wet.

65min to go: The wind picking up a tad but the course is through woodland so the impact of that would be negligible. The gap is dropping to 5’ or so. Abrahamsen will land the combativity prize as well as all those polka points. Warren Barguill has fallen off, and will get a new bike. He’s got a few cuts and bruises to cope with. The sprint teams are back in the pack, as is Thomas. So, a blanket finish can be expected, too.

70km to go: Maybe the peloton is chipping into Abrahamsen now. Geraint Thomas – oddly – has dropped off the back, and he’s behind Alexander Kristoff, too, who is 30 seconds ahead of him but also off the back.

80km to go: Sam Bennett’s made a bike change, and at the bottom of that small hill. He’s one who could be in the mix at the close. Abrahamsen will be in polka come what may until Wednesday. Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to SuperDévoluy in the Alps is where the real quiz begins. Bennett drops 30 seconds off the back of the peloton so has work to do.

86km to go: The Abrahamsen train continues, and he is heading towards another mountain point. The peloton seems to be saving gas, and the gap is being kept to 6’ 00”. The chase is on as he climbs a fourth category hill of about a kilometre. He blazes over and begins another descent.

100km to go: John Little gets in touch: “Afternoon Mr Brewin, Mr Preston may be right for the pros, as an amateur my time trials involved me going flat out and then my DS coming up with ever more fanciful excuses why I had, again, failed to make the cut. Never tried the ‘family meeting’ idea tho, you live and learn. Peace, John ( on behalf of Fewer Owls)“.

Abrahamsen being away has created an odd dynamic. Can he stay away? He’s making quite a reputation for himself at Le Tour.

FACT: “Abrahamsen gained 20kg and subsequently gained 6cm in height after under eating earlier in his career.”

In an interview with the Cycling Podcast, he said this: ““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 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.”

He’s currently 78kg, 183cm-tall – 12 stone and 3, and six feet, and blasting through the French campagne.

105km to go: Mark gets in touch: “William Preston is correct. I spent yesterday at the stage & it was clearly evident many riders were not trying hard. The 10 seconds the day before watching the peloton race by was just as entertaining. Whist it good to see individual riders close up, I am slowly coming to the conclusion TT (both types) are increasingly mundane. I’ll be glued to the TV for Stage 21, of course.”

Some very nice scenery as the pack flies past ploughed fields and past a historic church, Église de l’Assomption du Chalard.

110km to go: Jonas Abrahamsen is 6’10” clear now, riding a cracker. He takes to some narrow, winding country rounds that could cause traffic problems in the peloton.

120km to go: In the sprint chase, Biniam Girmay, already a stage winner this year, takes the spare points. He’s been riding beautifully. Jasper Philipsen seemed to give up the ghost in that chase.

122km to go: Abrahamsen flies over the sprint line to take the points for that, too. The rain jackets are on as more weather comes down.

130 km to go: It’s all on Abrahamsen, away from the field, and 4’ 50” clear as the the downhill continues and an intermediate sprint approaches. We are heading to Charles de Gaulle’s final resting place, Colombey-les-Deux-Églises.

144 km to go: Remaining climbs, and this the last before a sprint divides the race. Will the sprint teams get together in the final few kilometres.

• 1. Côte de Verrey-sous-Salmaise – 38.8 km (Cat 3)

• 2. Côte de Santenoge – 96.7 km – (Cat 4)

• 3. Côte de Giey-sur-Aujon – 122.4 km (Cat 4)

Abrahamsen takes the points again, his old EF mates sat back. Powless and Bissger are joined by Jordan Jegat, who then drops them. The peloton sits up ahead of the descent, which will be treacherous. EF’s plans to launch Healy appear to have flopped. Jegat is now Abrahamsen’s chaser, as another descent begins.

150 km to go: That was a greasy descent, followed by a climb into more gloom of 2.4km and nobody seems to want to go too hard down it. The field is split into groups now, a minute apart, and then two minutes back to the sprinters group, including Mark Cavendish. Project 36 may have to wait.

The leading group sees Abrahamsen go off alone and the EF Energy pair sit up, Powless and Bisseger as great holes appear in the pack on the climb. Pogacar looks happy enough, as a group of Bardet and Barguill, who went away on the first stage, are clear. Abrahmsen gets the single point on offer. Another greasy descent begins.

William Preston gets in touch: “For a domestique, a time trial is a great opportunity for a bit of a rest, the aim is to get around and hit the time cut, don’t crash and expensive as little energy as possible. As such, time trials are inherently dull to watch. There’s only a few riders prepared to get a stomp on to move up the GC rankings, the rest poodle about. To fine Bernard for briefly kissing his wife in a crowd of spectators, who were having an absolute ball is absolutely ridiculous. He, however, has handled like a boss.There’s the sprinters having beers passed to then by fans in the mountains and it’s all meant to be fun like that.

“The UCI could have made a lovely thing of it all on a slower news day, but the joyless, sock height measurers are truly joyless. Anyhow, looking forward to continued sprint based thrilling heroics later on today.”

158km to go: The first climb of the day, and it was only 2km, Abrahamsen goes for the two points on offer for his polka-dot campaign, and then Ben Healy’s EF Education team start to pile up the hill, and they want to join their two men up the road. Alberto Bettiol leads the charge, and Lotto send two riders after that mini breakaway. Abrahamsen takes the two points on offer. He’s saving them up for the bigger mountain passes to come next week. Healy goes after them, and the peloton is split. Now, who will want to join the breaks. A five kilometre descent follows.

160km to go: There are great clouds of moisture coming off those riders in that three-man breakaway. It’s not a pleasant day in Eastern France. “We’d like more guys here,” says Abrahamsen to the motorbike camera. It’s not really full bore stuff at the moment. They’d like more help to do turns on the front. But it’s a day of caution. Pogacar is making sure he’s towards the front of the peloton. The gap is a readily bridgeable 2’ 00”.

170km to go: Pogacar has taken a call of nature, and the breakaway trio takes a huge lead of over 2’15”, with Pacher’s chase already looking lost. The peloton is looking to make time back over the climbs and towards the end. There’s talk of crosswinds and echelons, too.

180 km to go: Stefan Bisseger, Jonas Abrahamsen, Neilson Powless, all descending down the slope, all time-trialling their way down, and they open up a gap of 30 seconds with short work. Quentin Pacher of Groupama FDJ is between the two groups, hoping to get on.

Away we go…

They’re approaching the départ, on the parade lap of Semur-en-Auxois, seven clicks from the real start of the race. It’s soggy, like Paris-Nice weather as the excellent Rob Hatch says on Eurosport.

Bernard fined for kissing wife on stage

Injured Pedersen ruled out of race

The news ahead of the stage is that it’s soggy, gloomy skies. Three categorised climbs in the early stages.

Friday’s race report from Jeremy Whittle.

William Fotheringham describes today’s stage thus:

Stage eight, Saturday 6 July: Semur-en-Auxois to Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, 183.5km

The breathtaking run of cultural, culinary and historic reference points continues: now we’re off to the home and burial place of Charles de Gaulle. In 1960 en route to Troyes the riders stopped to greet France’s wartime leader; anti-climactically, lowly placed Pierre Beuffeuil took advantage of the halt to nip off up the road and win the stage. No chance of that today; expect a fourth bunch sprint.

Preamble