Tour de France 2025 live: Stage 8 result and reaction as Jonathan Milan takes maiden stage win – UK Times

That was Mads Pedersen-like by Milan, winning on the kind of uphill finish the Dane excels on. Lidl-Trek really have an embarrassment of riches sprinting-wise.

That was a brilliant sprint by Jonathan Milan and it’s a maiden Tour de France stage win for the Italian, a huge, enormous engine of a man.

He lost his lead-out in a very messy approach to that sprint but surfed the wheels, latched onto Van der Poel’s impressive leadout, and overcame Alpecin’s Kaden Groves.

Van Aert did well to move all the way up into second, but couldn’t come round Milan.

Milan has lost his final leadout man. He’s on the wheel of Groves, on the wheel of van der Poel leading out… the green jersey opens up his sprint but van Aert is there – but no-one can come round Milan!

Flamme rouge taken and now it rises to the line… Tudor are on the front for Alberto Dainese, Groupama-FDJ are moving to the front…

1.8km to go: First chicane done, they cross the River Mayenne, one more roundabout to go and then it heads uphill.

Kaden Groves just touched Jonathan Milan’s wheel and lost two positions as he swerved to avoid a crash!

2.9km to go: Like any sprint finish this is becoming more stressful by the minute. The riders are in a washing machine as they all fight for the best line. Alpecin and Lidl are best-placed as they head onto a very large roundabout, with one more to come.

4.4km to go: The GC teams can breathe a sigh of relief as they go under the 5km to go mark.

Jordi Meeus has dropped off the back and definitely will not contest the sprint, with Bora riding for Danny van Poppel instead.

5.6km to go: The riders swing right onto a narrower road lined up against the Mayenne river. Tudor and Jayco have some riders at the front now, Alpecin are in prime position, but Lidl-Trek have ground to make up.

Girmay is on his own, floating around the middle.

7.3km to go: Wout van Aert has latched onto the Alpecin lead-out train – does the Belgian fancy the uphill finish today?

Tudor, Visma, Cofidis, Lidl-Trek, and Alpecin are lined up across the road. Biniam Girmay is sat on the back of the Lidl train.

The road narrows now and there isn’t much room to move up, and plenty of obstructive road furniture too.

9.5km to go: Paul Penhoet, the French sprinter for Groupama-FDJ, also has a mechanical and needs some assistance, and that’s him done for the day most likely.

Merlier also doesn’t have the advantage of an entire team dedicated to his leadout, with Soudal Quick-Step also needing to keep GC hopeful Remco Evenepoel safe.