Right then, let’s see if this works, posting hungover, on my mobile, with crap wifi in a small, Welsh Village.
Cazères-sur-Garonne is the train station near Cazères. It will be the first ever visit of the Tour de France. The first 40 kilometer of the race are relatively flat. Then the Col de Menté begins.
The first 7 kilometres of the Menté climb at approximately 3%, but a dramatic shift occurs in Pont de l’Oule. It is here that the ascent really kicks in with a 15.5% ramp to continue with a slope hovering at around 8% all the way to the top. From base to summit, the Menté is 18 kilometres long and the average gradient sits at 4.6%.
Up next is the Port de Balès. Effectively, the road begins to slope at kilometre 80, but this is merely a false flat. The climb starts to show its teeth at kilometre 95 and continues to do so for 11.7 kilometres until the riders reach the top. The average gradient on the Port de Balès is 7.7%.
The last climb of the day, Col de Peyresourde, is an old acquaintance of the Tour de France. The ascent, which features in the race since 1910, is accessible from different sides. On 8 September the riders climb the Peyersourde from Saint-Aventin to the top at an elevation of 1,569 metres. This way, the climb is 9.7 kilometres long while the average gradient sits at 7.8%, peaking out to double digits at times. The first three riders over the Peyesourde gain time bonuses of 8, 5 and 2 seconds.
The race concludes with a drop of 8 kilometres into Loudenvielle before the last kilometre is virtually flat.
The first three riders on the line gain time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds. Furthermore, as mentioned, the first three pilots over the Peyresourde are awarded 8, 5 and 2 seconds.
Stage 8 of Le Tour starts at 13.30 and the race is expected to finish around 17.15 – both are local times (CEST).
Who are the contenders then?
The Contenders: spin the wheel of fortune to work out who gets in the breakaway today. Often late in the race we see the same names again and again in the moves but we’re only a week in. So yes to Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) and Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) again but without much conviction right now. Who else to pick? They need to climb well but having a handy sprint helps for the finish. Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) is still recovering from a broken collarbone and could be tired from yesterday but he’s the archetypal rider for today. Davide Formolo (UAE Emirates), L-L Sanchez (Astana) and Marc Hirschi (Sunweb) come to mind but the latter’s a doubt for the high mountains. Alessandro de Marchi (CCC), Dani Martinez (EF) and maybe Ben Hermans (Israel too). There’s also the mountains jersey up for grabs today, Benoît Cosnesfroy leads on 25 points but win one of the first category climbs plus the Port de Balès and a rider will collect 30 points. Among the riders who lost time yesterday, Bauke Mollema‘s (Trek-Segafredo) must be good for a late attack.
A big GC day? Hopefully but maybe not, the Port de Balès is a hard climb but the Peyresourde is a big boulevard that suits strong teams. Still Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quickstep) can try, he’s got the jump to take a small gap over the Peyresourde and the skills to turn this into more during the descent and Jumbo-Visma don’t need to close him down. Otherwise Primož Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) is the obvious choice. Tomorrow’s stage has the very steep Marie Blanque, if people don’t move today they will tomorrow but you wonder if Jumbo-Visma need to strike while their irons are hot right now and profit from both of this weekend’s stages.
And back to yesterday. 
It worked!!!!
I’m pretty confident they won’t zig zag up the Bales like I have done every time I have been up it. Could be a proper ding dong as a tricky descent to the final climb
Lumpy one! Time for someone to have a dig i think.
They all must be aware of Roglic TT ability so someone needs to start thinking about trying to get some time from him before then ?
Wout van Aert will probably win again innit.
More seriously, I wonder if Pogačar will try to make back his lost time today. It’ll take someone with good legs and a big incentive to break through a Jumbo/Ineos barrage so he might be the guy to do it. Not sure if the peyresourde is the right place to do it though.
I wonder if someone will attack when they stop for a Forest Omlette, chips, beers and genepi at the top of the Col de Mente. I mean, why wouldn’t you ?
And don't forget the pancake place at the top of the Peyresourde.
MS playing chicken with the peloton.
Marks&Spencer - is there a food shop up there now ?
Nice to hear from Allan Peiper there!
Nice to see one of the smaller French teams finally off the front for the doomed attempt at glory.
Matt Rendal noting Kasper Asgreen hit 91km an hour off a descent!
Opps edit: 97.1 on the Col De Mente
Pinot cooked and in trouble ? Good work Tom Pidcock winning u23 Giro
Pinot popped.
french tv are being a bit cruel
turning into a day of truth for some of them.....
As if my velogames team wasnt bad enough, now my team leader has cracked 😟😟😟😕
Nice to see Jumbo riding for Yates 😂
zakar in 35 secs behind needs 1.30 to win it from here! his descending is so bad.
that's a nose for aero advantage !!!
gutsy stuff from yates
I'm wincing at the 'social distancing' up through these crowds.
This is epic!!!
jeez no teams left 2k up the Peryesoude ! this is going to be brutal.
Jumbo exposed today.
Yates was gutsy to keep on getting back.
Jumbo everyone exposed today.
Cool head from Yates and outstanding Racing from everyone. Especially enjoyed Alaphilippe and his attack as a sign off!
Can someone please get Pete K to stand still when he's on camera!
Yep, was only half listening but was it Chris B "Alaphilippe attacked and exposed a number of weaknesses, most notably his own"
General Classification after Stage 8
1 YATES, Adam (MTS) 34:44:52
2 ROGLIČ, Primož (TJV) + 3
3 MARTIN, Guillaume (COF) + 9
4 BARDET, Romain (ALM) + 11
5 BERNAL GOMEZ, Egan Arley (INS) + 13
6 QUINTANA, Nairo (ARK)
7 LOPEZ MORENO, Miguel Angel (AST)
8 URAN, Rigoberto (EF1)
9 POGAČAR, Tadej (UAD) + 48
how much time do Yates, Martin, Bardet, Bernal, Quintana et al need over Roglic for the TT ?
thought Niro looked strong today.
how much time do Yates, Martin, Bardet, Bernal, Quintana et al need over Roglic for the TT ?
Lots, they need to gang up on him, Pogacar less, potentially much less.
Not sure I liked the highlights sign off song...do they know something we don't....
Good stage that - I missed the live footage so nice to see a good highlights programme that summed the day up well.
Everyone is wrecked, seeing them right on the limit is much more entertaining than the massive doping days where it was simply a superhuman time trial up a mountain.
Intelligent ride from Yates to just tap away steadily, know that everyone else was in the red too and then regain position. Also fairly sure that even I could have beaten Zakharin on the descent...
seeing them right on the limit is much more entertaining than the massive doping days where it was simply a superhuman time trial up a mountain.
Quicker today than the doping days......
http://www.climbing-records.com/2020/09/tadej-pogacar-crushes-peyresourde-record.html
If anyone needs me I'll be over there having a little cry about Thibaut Pinot.
Roglic looks ... imperious. Only a matter of time.