Stage eight of the Tour de France 2022 starts in Dole and finishes in Lausanne.
Even though the stage passes through the heart of the Jura massif to reach the Swiss city of Lausanne, the peloton’s yellow jersey contenders and climbers will have to wait another 24 hours before a major mountain test. Instead, it appears this is another opportunity for the break to take a stage win.
When is stage eight of the Tour de France taking place?
The Tour de France stage eight takes place on Saturday, July 9, starting at 12:20 BST with an anticipated finish time of 16:40 BST.
How long is stage eight of the Tour de France?
The Tour de France stage eight will be 186.3km long.
Tour de France stage eight: expected timings
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Route
Distance to go
Anticipated Time (BST)
Dole
186.3km
12:20
Montrond
139.4km
13:25
Côte des Rousses
85km
14:41
Lausanne
0km
16:40
Tour de France stage eight route
(Image credit: Tour de France)
From the Jura foothills the route climbs to the resort of Les Rousses, where Frenchman Lilian Calmejane was the stage victor in 2017, then travels along a plateau into neighbouring Switzerland.
There’s a steady drop to the shore of Lake Geneva in Lausanne, then an intriguing climb to the finish next to the Olympic stadium. Extending to almost 5km, the most challenging section is the penultimate kilometre, which averages 9.5%. Beyond it, the last 800 metres keep dragging up to the line.
This looks like another good opportunity for a breakaway to go the distance, although there are sure to be some teams that will want to keep the escapees within reach in order to set up their puncheurs for the challenging finale. It will be interesting to see how the GC teams respond in this contest. Some may be keen to assist the peloton’s pursuit if they sense there’s a chance to grab a stage win and some useful bonus seconds.
Tour de France stage eight: riders to watch
This is another enticing stage for riders who thrive in the hilly Classics, and particularly those who can deliver a sharp turn of finishing speed after a short but intense climb. Veteran Philippe Gilbert might like the look of this, while Bahrain’s Dylan Teuns has this season established himself as a force to be reckoned with on uphill finishes. Michael Matthews could be a threat if the peloton makes it to the finish en masse.
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Peter Cossins has been writing about professional cycling since 1993, with his reporting appearing in numerous publications and websites including Cycling Weekly, Cycle Sport and Procycling - which he edited from 2006 to 2009. Peter is the author of several books on cycling - The Monuments, his history of cycling's five greatest one-day Classic races, was published in 2014, followed in 2015 by Alpe d’Huez, an appraisal of cycling’s greatest climb. Yellow Jersey - his celebration of the iconic Tour de France winner's jersey won the 2020 Telegraph Sports Book Awards Cycling Book of the Year Award.
