Key events
171km to go: Our lead trio have a lead of 23 seconds as a number of riders, including Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) break ranks from the peloton in a bid to join them.
174km to go: Anthony Delaplace (Arkea), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Tim Declercq (Soudal-Quick Step) have opened a gap of 38 seconds on the bunch. Declercq went first and the otherr two jumped across to join him. At the back of the bunch, Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) is playing catch-up after puncturing his back wheel.
178km to go: Costa Rican rider Andrey Amador (EF Education EasyPost) darts off the front of the bunch but is immediately pegged back.
181km to go: Already sporting a bandage on his left knee from a previous spill, Torstein Traæn (Uno-X) crashes on a road divider. He hobbles back to his bike and remounts. The medics pull up alongside him and perform some rolling repairs on his left elbow.
Withdrawals and abandonments: We’ve only lost four riders in the opening seven stages. Team leaders Enric Mas (Movistar) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost) sustained race-ending injuries on the opening stage this day last week, while Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and Jacobo Guarnieri (Lotto Dstny) crashed out in the closing stages of stage four. The peloton is 172 riders strong.
189km to go: Edvald Boasson Hagan (TotalEnergies) has an escape plot foiled and is reeled in. The peloton remains intact. Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal–Quick-Step) is towing them along.
196km to go: It’s been a fast start with plenty of riders trying to get in the as yet unformed breakaway. The profile of today’s stage means that anyone who can get away from the bunch will fancy their chances of winning.
197km to go: We have three riders in front with a very slender lead, four more behind them and the peloton a couple of seconds back in hot pursuit. They’re travelling at 63km per hour.
They’re off and racing on stage eight …
Prudhomme semaphores the signal to begin racing and a number of riders try to sprint away from the bunch. Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) and Stefan Kung (Groupama–FDJ) are among them.
Not long now: The peloton is tightly packed behing race director Christian Prudhomme’s car as they approach the end of the neutral zone.
They’re rolling out. The riders have set off and are pedalling their way through the early stages of a neutral zone in Libourne that is 4.5 kilometres in length.
Christian Prudhomme on today’s stage: “One sprint may follow another, but they’re not necessarily the same,” writes the Tour director. “Limoges could produce some surprises as the day’s finish will certainly suit the most explosive sprinters, those capable of powering up a short but difficult climb to claim victory.”
Who’s wearing what?
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Yellow jersey: Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 29hr 57min 12sec
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Green jersey: Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin–Deceuninck) 215 points
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Polka-dot jersey: Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) 36 points
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White jersey: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 29hr 57min 37sec
Cavendish denied as Philipsen completes hat-trick
Stage seven report: Mark Cavendish came agonisingly close to a record 35th stage success, only to suffer a mechanical failure and see victory snatched from his grasp by Jasper Philipsen.
Stage eight: Libourne to Limoges (200.7km)
William Fotheringham on today’s stage: A second bunch sprint on paper, but there’s a twist: this is a long stage, and the final 70km offer little respite, being constantly up and down. It will be a tough one to control, so teams without sprinters will fancy their chances in a break. The tough finale favours a strongman such as Mathieu van der Poel or his Alpecin–Deceuninck teammate Søren Kragh Andersen.
