A dramatic stage 8 of the 2023 Tour de France has been won by Mads Pedersen on a day effected by a number of crashes.
It's a long day on the bike, one of the very few days that go over 200 kilometres. Another transition day with a pan-flat opening, however, there's a slightly different final, potentially ruling out the pure sprinters.
Despite many people seemingly being incredibly keen to get in the breakaway, there were only three riders that managed to escape. Tim Declercq (Soudal - Quick Step), Anthony Delaplace (Team Arkéa Samsic) and Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies).
After the intermediate sprint, a group led by the Astana Qazaqstan Team and Alpecin-Deceuninck launched a counter attack.
Whilst Jumbo-Visma ultimately brought it back without much trouble. the stress levels in the peloton had been raised momentarily.
The breakaway weren't playing any games with the bunch today. Riding full gas and forcing the peloton behind to do the same.
Then came the biggest story of the day. At a seemingly innocuous point in the race, Mark Cavendish's quest for a record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage win was cruelly brought to an early end as he was taken off the race in an ambulance after a crash.
With the peloton eating into the time gap, Kasper Asgreen launched a solo move from the peloton. Although he was unable to latch onto the leaders, his teammate up ahead was able to ride in the wheels and save his legs.
Declercq though was unable to benefit from the rest as Turgis made his attack riding clear solo, holding a 43-second advantage with 16km to go.
Jumbo-Visma were going full gas on the front of the bunch, absolutely ripping up the peloton on the final categorised climb of the day, catching Turgis in the process with 8km to go.
A crash in the peloton saw 5th overall Simon Yates go down with the Brit being forced to chase hard to try and limit losses.
In the final, Mads Pedersen opened his sprint first and despite the efforts of Jasper Phillipsen and Wout van Aert, the Lidl-Trek sprinter just would not be denied.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- Yeah man...PogiSloFans07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
- My memories of Ivan Basso aren't good but I liked his sister Elisa ok.flyer07-11-2026
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