Jonathan Milan sprinted to victory in stage eight of the 2025 Tour de France to retain the sprinters’ green jersey after a breakaway duo, Mattéo Vercher and Mathieu Burgaudeau, were caught 9km from the finish in Laval. The defending champion, Tadej Pogacar, remains in the yellow jersey.
On a largely flat stage, the inevitable bunch sprint saw Milan, named after the best selling novella Jonathan Livingston Seagull, swoop up the final climb to hold off Jonas Vingegaard’s Visma–Lease a Bike teammate Wout van Aert on Laval’s Boulevard Pierra Elain.
The Italian profited from the bad luck that befell his sprint rival Tim Merlier, the winner in Dunkirk, who suffered a punctured tyre 12km from Laval, to take his first Tour stage win.
Sunday’s ninth stage, from Chinon to Chateauroux, has no categorised climbs and offers another chance for the sprinters to take a victory, before Monday’s rude awakening on the Tour’s first mountain stage in the Auvergne.
Slovenia’s Pogacar (UAE Emirates) remains 54 seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick-Step) in the overall standings.
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