2020 Tour de France stage 8 highlights – Video

The Tour de France entered the first high-mountain stages on Saturday with a triple-hump trip over the Col de Menté, Port de Balès and Col de Peyresourde en route to Loudenvielle – the first true test for the overall contenders.

It was great a day out for the breakaway on the undulating opening hour as the GC teams gave 13 riders a long leash, letting mountains leader Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R La Mondiale) sweep up more points and some non-threatening riders fight for the stage win.

In the end, it was Nans Peters (AG2R La Mondiale) who claimed a solo victory in front of French prime minister Jean Castex, soloing away on the Port de Balès descent.

Race leader Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) looked to briefly be in trouble on the Peyresourde after several attacks from Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), but managed to ride himself back to the group with Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) after the young Slovenian broke away.

The top three in the GC remain the same, with Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) slipping away to take two seconds and move up into fourth, and Tom Dumoulin dropping back after sacrificing himself for Roglič and plummeting down the standings.

Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*

Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read any 5 articles for free in each 30-day period, this automatically resets

After your trial you will be billed £4.99 $7.99 €5.99 per month, cancel anytime. Or sign up for one year for just £49 $79 €59

Join now for unlimited access

Try your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Cyclingnews is the world's leader in English-language coverage of professional cycling. Started in 1995 by University of Newcastle professor Bill Mitchell, the site was one of the first to provide breaking news and results over the internet in English. The site was purchased by Knapp Communications in 1999, and owner Gerard Knapp built it into the definitive voice of pro cycling. Since then, major publishing house Future PLC has owned the site and expanded it to include top features, news, results, photos and tech reporting. The site continues to be the most comprehensive and authoritative English voice in professional cycling.