Tour de France 2020: updates of the eighth stage – live! | Sports

81 km to go: It appears that Giacomo Nizzolo, who had a good season and won the European Continental Championship one day last month, has been surrendered with a knee injury.

82 km to go: The breakaway group walks past the banner and tells them that there is only a kilometer between them and the summit of the Col de Mente.

82 km to go: The camera shows NTT driver Giacomo Nizzolo driving on the wrong path towards a parked team car. He gives up.

84 km to go: The breakaway riders are four kilometers from the top of the Col de Mente and have a 14-minute lead over the peloton.

86 km to go: In the back of the breakaway group, Michael Morkov has a long chat with Ilnur Zakarin, his former teammate. As Zakarin starts pedaling, Morkov turns to the motorcycle cameraman riding next to him, smiles, waves and points with his thumb up.

87 km to go: The 13 men of the runaway climb steadily up the Col de Menthe, with the peloton just beginning their ascent 13 minutes and 44 seconds behind them.

88 km from the destination: Sam Bennett and Bryan Coquard were the first and second from the peloton to cross the line in the intermediate sprint and score the only remaining points. Peter Sagan missed it.

91 km to go: The riders are on the uphill trail, cycling towards the Category 1 Col de Menthe, which is 1,349m high, 6.9km long and has an 8% gradient. The gap between the outlier and the rest of the field is 12 minutes and 32 seconds.

93 km to go: Mitchelton Scott continues to lead the peloton, which is now 11 minutes and 47 seconds behind the breakaway. This will suit Adam Yates very well as the bonus time available on the Port de Bales and the Col de Peyresourde will be neutralized if the outliers make it through the first two climbs.

96 km to go: Jerome Cousin (Total Direct Energie) is first over the line in the intermediate sprint. Michael Morkov gets off the saddle to come from behind where he’s loitering and rolls over the line in second place, which is likely to further antagonize his fellow riders in the runaway. He sneaks back to the rear of the lead group and gets evil from his fellow passengers.

103 km to go: In the breakaway group, which opened a gap of nearly 10 minutes, Michael Morkov (Deceuninck-Quick Step) sits three or four bike lengths from his back, refuses to be the pacemaker and gets grief from some of his fellow refugees .

He is clearly following instructions from his team manager and from ITV.David Millar says the rest of the drivers should just ignore him and not let him invade their heads. He’s probably there to help Julian Alaphilippe in case the French try to bridge the gap between the main draw and the breakaway group when they reach the mountains.

110 km to go: Adam Yates sits in the middle of the peloton, which is led by his teammate Jack Bauer.

113 km to go: The gap is now over seven minutes. The 13-man breakaway leads by 7 minutes and 21 seconds. The first notable peak today is 59.5km, but you need to negotiate the intermediate sprint first. As soon as our 13 outliers have collected the points that they don’t particularly want or need, there are only two and one left for Peter Sagan and the other sprinters to fight over.

118 km to go: The gap is now 6 minutes and 3 seconds and increases after about 26 kilometers of today’s stage. Back in the group, Adam Yates’ Mitchelton Scott team riders set the pace at the front.

122 km to go: The gap between the escape party and the peloton is 4 minutes 38 seconds and increasing.

124 km to go: We introduce today’s outlier: Benoît Cosnefroy and Nans Peters (AG2R-La Mondiale), Ilnur Zakarin (CCC), Kevin Reza and Quentin Pacher (B & B Hotels-Vital-Concept), Michael Morkov (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Neilson Powless (EF), Fabien Grellier and Jérôme Cousin (Total Direct Energie), Carlos Verona (Movistar), Toms Skujins (Trek-Segrafredo), Soren Kragh Andersen (Sunweb) and Ben Hermans (Israel Start-Up Nation) are the 13th Driver at the top.

Stage eight is underway: We are on our way to the eighth stage, where an eight-man runaway opened a gap of more than two minutes on the peloton that did not react. Team CCC’s Ilnur Zakarin is the best placed GC driver in 44th place and none of those fighting for the green jersey is in the group.

Mitchelton-Scott’s seventh level diary

Race director Adam Scott drives for Mitchelton-Scott, whose daily tour diary is worth the price of admission for the soundtrack alone. Precaution: There is actually no entrance fee.

Race director Christian Prudhomme on today’s stage: “The first Pyrenean stage was designed on a course that will be both dynamic and challenging,” he explains. “The drivers have to reach the Col de Menté in less than 100 kilometers, followed by the Port de Balès and the Col de Peyresourde. A good downhiller could then have the opportunity to make a difference on a descent of around ten kilometers to the finish. “

The top 10 of the general classification

The British driver Adam Yates stays in Maillot Jaune, but is only three seconds ahead of the Slovenian racing favorite Primoz Roglic.

Stage 7 recap: Van Aert wins while Yates stays in yellow

Wout van Aert celebrated his second stage win on this year’s tour when Jumbo-Visma again emphasized their collective superiority over the main field, he writes Jeremy Whittle.

From William Fotheringham’s stage instructions: A classic Pyrenees stage: two mountains of the first category and the Port de Balès of the super category. The race should now have a pattern and a strong team like Jumbo or Ineos should control the pace. It is a difficult descent to the finish. While the overall candidates test each other, the stage is suitable for climbers with descending skills such as the Slovenian Matej Mohoric.