Tour de France 2025 | Stage 8 | Saint-Méen-le-Grand > Laval Espace Mayenne
Italian Jonathan Milan captured the sprint into Laval Espace Mayenne on Saturday for his first ever stage finish at the Tour de France.
The Lidl-Trek rider must have been a relief for Italians, who have not won a stage in the Tour for the longest time ever–113 stages since Vincenzo Nibali won stage 20 in the 2019 Tour, at Val Thorens.
Deemed the fastest sprinter in the Tour this year, Milan was able to hold off Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck). Mathieu Burgaudeau and Matteo Vercher (Total Energies) shared the most aggressive rider award after their impressive breakaway in this stage.
The General Classification stayed the same on this stage, with Tadej Pogcar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) in first position, followed by Remco Evenepol (Soudal Quick-Step) and third, K. Vauquelin, (Arkea -B&B Hotels).
Milan calls the shots on this flat stage
Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) and Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty) came to the front of the peloton to drive the pace at 41 km/h en route to the intermediate sprint set in Vitré (km 85.5).
Since the start of the Tour, Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) was the fastest on the line. The Italian super power has now claimed 112 of his 142 points in intermediate sprints (the other 30 came with his 2nd place in Dunkirk). This time, he got the better of Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), Anthony Turgis (Total Energies) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty).
Burgaudeau and Vercher dig deep
After the intermediate sprint, Mathieu Burgaudeau (Total Energies) accelerated. Simmons controled his move but the French attacker went again at km 90, this time with a teammate, Matteo Vercher. The two riders opened a gap of 1 minute as they went through Ballots (km 114.9).
Over the only climb of the day – Côte de Nuillé-sur-Vicoin (summit with 16.4km to go) -, the gap was down to 40 seconds with many teams coming to the front.
Burgaudeau and Vercher both received the most aggressive rider awards – similar to 1978 when Yves Hézard and Raymond Martin rode to Super Besse, 2011 when Juan Antonio Flecha and Johnny Hoogerland rode to Saint-Flour, and 2016, when Julian Alaphilippe and Tony Martin rode to Bern.
Burgaudeau continued solo after Vercher dropped back at 13 kilometers to go. He was caught at 9 kilometers further into the stage. The pace was impressive all the way to the slightly rising finish in Laval, where Milan showed his raw power and ended Italy’s drought, 114 stages after Vincenzo Nibali’s success in Val Thorens (stage 20 of the Tour 2019).
GC Classification at the end of stage 8:
| Rider | Team | Times | Gap | B | P | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | T. POGACAR | UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG | 29h 48′ 30” | – | B : 26” | – |
| 2 | R. EVENEPOEL | SOUDAL QUICK-STEP | 29h 49′ 24” | + 00h 00′ 54” | – | – |
| 3 | K. VAUQUELIN | ARKEA-B&B HOTELS | 29h 49′ 41” | + 00h 01′ 11” | – | – |
| 4 | J. VINGEGAARD | TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE | 29h 49′ 47” | + 00h 01′ 17” | B : 14” | – |
| 5 | M. VAN DER POEL | ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK | 29h 49′ 59” | + 00h 01′ 29” | B : 16” | – |
| 6 | M. JORGENSON | TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE | 29h 50′ 04” | + 00h 01′ 34” | – | – |
| 7 | O. ONLEY | TEAM PICNIC POSTNL | 29h 51′ 19” | + 00h 02′ 49” | B : 4” | – |
| 8 | F. LIPOWITZ | RED BULL – BORA – HANSGROHE | 29h 51′ 32” | + 00h 03′ 02” | – | – |
| 9 | P. ROGLIC | RED BULL – BORA – HANSGROHE | 29h 51′ 36” | + 00h 03′ 06” | – |
