Tour de France 2024 Favourites stage 8: For fast men #4

foto: Cor VosStage 8 of the Tour de France isn’t exactly a walk in the park, but it’s likely the fast men will have the final say in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises. Not the pure sprinters, but those with a strongman skillset are expected to come to the fore. (Slideshow route/profile)

It’s certainly not flat along the way. There are five opportunities to gain mountain points, all on short ascents. The total elevation gain on the route from Semur-en-Auxois to Colombey-les-Deux-Églises is 2,400 meters.

The good news for the pure sprinters is that the climbs are far from the finish. The last KOM climb is crested with 61 kilometers remaining. The bad news, however, is that it’s not entirely flat after that. For instance, there’s still an uphill stretch of 1.7 kilometres at 5.1% near Sexfontaines. The route then continues undulating towards the slightly uphill final kilometer.

There’s a good chance that teams of power sprinters will keep the pace high throughout the day to exhaust and neutralise the pure sprinters. That said, the possibility of a successful breakaway cannot be ruled out, in which case victory isn’t just about power sprinters but about attackers with fast legs. Or a cunning soloist riding to glory; that’s not unthinkable either.

Favourites 8th stage 2024 Tour de France

*** Mads Pedersen, Jasper Philipsen, Wout van Aert, Michael Matthews
** Arnaud De Lie, Mathieu van der Poel, Biniam Girmay, Marijn van den Berg
* Søren Kragh Andersen, Christophe Laporte, Danny van Poppel, Magnus Cort, Mike Teunissen

Another interesting read: route 8th stage 2024 Tour de France.