Stage 8 | Dole / Station des Rousses | Tour de France 2017

A fast, aggressive eighth stage of the Tour de France may not have shaken up the general classification too much but the toll will certainly tell on the riders. It was hot, fast and, at times, brutal racing that many may pay the price for in the coming days – perhaps as early as tomorrow’s stage over the mountains to Chambéry.

In this packed episode of The Cycling Podcast, Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and François Thomazeau report from the finish line in Station des Rousses, where they say Lilian Calmejane hold on to win the stage in his first Tour de France, despite a bout of cramp in the final kilometres.

We hear the reaction from his Direct Energie team before waiting to see if Juraj Sagan made it home inside the time limit. We also assess Team Sky’s tactics and hear from their sports director Nicolas Portal about why he rated it 8.5 or nine out of ten in terms of stress for his riders today.

There’s the award of the first Rapha Pédaleur de Charme t-shirt of this Tour and a welcome return of the Friebos File.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Rapha and Science in Sport.