Tour de France Femmes 2026: stage eight heads to Nice on penultimate day– live

Key events

154km to go Daniek Hengeveld (Visma-Lease a Bike) has been the only rider to make any kind of attack stick so far, but her advantage only reached 12secs before she was reeled back in.

In case you’re just catching up, here’s what happened yesterday in a thrilling stage up Mont Ventoux from Jeremy Whittle on the ground in Provence:

Defending champion Ferrand-Prévot abandons!

The big early news pre-stage was the announcement from Visma-Lease a Bike revealing that defending Pauline Ferrand-Prévot would not be starting stage eight. The Frenchwoman had not been able to live with the GC contenders when the racing got tough this week and her team have now said she had come down with an illness and was withdrawing from the race. Here’s the statement from Visma-Lease a Bike:

Unfortunately, Pauline was not feeling well this morning. In consultation with the medical staff, it has been decided that she will not start today. We wish Pauline a speedy recovery!

168km to go A couple of early attacks but as yet nothing to write home about.

Kilometre zero

Marion Rousse waves off the riders and we are on the road to Nice. I’ll be monitoring race radio until we get live pictures from TNT at 2.30pm BST.

The peloton pass by the remarkable geological structure ‘Rocher de la Baume’ prior to the start of Stage 8. Photograph: Tim de Waele/Getty Images

Preamble

After the drama of Mont Ventoux today’s stage is a little bit of an unknown. It’s listed as flat, but the first 75km are essentially an uphill drag and then there are two category four climbs just before the riders get to Nice. It’s hard to see where the opportunity for an attack from the general classification contenders might come from, but at the same time this not straightforward for sprinters.

Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney was so impressive in snatching away the yellow jersey it is difficult to imagine her crumbling now, but Demi Vollering is only some stage-win bonus seconds and change behind the Polish rider. This is not over, but the window is narrowing for Vollering.

Lorena Wiebes is sitting pretty in the green jersey and should the SD Worx-Protime sprinter be able to manage over the lumps then she is the obvious candidate in the sprint. There are probably some smart tactical advantages to Niewiadoma-Phinney’s Canyon–SRAM team in getting someone in the break and letting that go, so how the seek to control the peloton will be worth keeping an eye on.

Given the swings in momentum over the course of this race, all I do know is this won’t be dull.