Sprint stages seem to be like buses at this year's Tour de France, as after having to wait until stage 5 for the first opportunity, the fast men are getting three chances in quick succession, with stage 8's flat run to Bergerac coming hot off the heels of a sprint battle in Bordeaux.
No one sprinter has asserted dominance in this Tour yet, with Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) winning the first test in Pau, and then Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) romping to victory on stage 7. He'll be tantalised at the chance to make it two in a row, but it's also possible we see a third different winner from a super open sprint field.
Stage 8 key info
- Stage 8: Périgueux - Bergerac
- Date: July 11, 2026
- Distance: 179.8km
- Start time: 13:25 CEST
- Finish time: 17:20 CEST
- LIVE: Tour de France stage 8 – Merlier, Kooij and Philipsen primed for sprinters' rematch in Bergerac
Running through the Dordogne, stage 8 comes in just shy of 180km and features just over 1,000m of climbing, coming in the form of two cat. 4 climbs which are out the way well before the finale and shouldn't trouble even the purest of sprinters.
The intermediate sprint comes 122km in, which means the sprinters' teams may want to keep the breakaway on a short leash all day and go for some points there themselves, with both the stage win and the battle for the green jersey heating up.
At present, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) leads that classification with 205 points, but the pure sprinters are not that far behind him, and with points weighted towards the finish lines of flat stages this year, a win today could see someone like Biniam Girmay, Max Kanter or Merlier leap up the standings towards Pedersen.
Points
- Points at finish : 70-50-40-35-30-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2
The final 35km is completely flat with a fairly uncomplicated finale in Bergerac. There are two big 90-degree turns in the final 2km, but the roads in between are arrow straight and it's a clear 500m run to the finish line.
This will be a stage where a dialled lead-out is key, with the rider who is dropped off the latest likely to be able to speed to the win.
Bergerac has hosted two Tour stage finishes before. In 2014, Lithuania’s Ramunas Navardauskas caught the peloton out with a masterful attack 13 kilometres from the finish. In 2017, Marcel Kittel’s speed enabled him to clinch the 13th of his 14 Tour victories.
Tour de France stage 8 prediction
Mountains
-
Côte de Domme (cat. 4, 3.7km at 3.3%), km. 102.6
- 1 pt
-
Côte du Buisson-de-Cadouin (cat 4, 2.2km at 5.6%), km. 140.4
- 1 pt
Sprints
-
Saint-Cyprien, km. 122.8
- 25-20-16-14-12-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 pts
Time limit
Est. Speed |
Est. Winner Time |
Limit % |
Max Time Cut |
|---|---|---|---|
46 km/h |
3:55:18 |
9% |
0:21:11 |
45 km/h |
4:00:32 |
9% |
0:21:39 |
44 km/h |
4:06:00 |
8% |
0:19:41 |
43 km/h |
4:11:43 |
8% |
0:20:08 |
42 km/h |
4:17:43 |
7% |
0:18:02 |
