Tour de France Femmes stage 8 LIVE: Two riders go clear to form early breakaway

2026-08-08T14:34:04.679Z

Adegeest crossed the line at the intermediate sprint first ahead of Squiban with just under six minutes back to the peloton.

AG Insurane-Soudal and Liv-AlUla-Jayco bring up more riders to work on the front along with a couple from FDJ United-SUEZ with the gap at 6’16”.

2026-08-08T14:24:28.516Z

The gap grows further to 6’20” now.

2026-08-08T14:19:45.525Z

Squiban is now going to get her team car as they pass the peloton.

2026-08-08T14:19:22.691Z

The peloton aren’t really closing the gap at the moment.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-08-08T14:16:36.302Z

Squiban taking bidons from the Lidl-Trek and Shimano Neutral Service car as her team car isn’t up there with her, interestingly.

The break of Squiban and Adegeest have extended their gap to 6’07” on the peloton with 15km to go until the intermediate sprint.

2026-08-08T14:11:40.286Z

The riders have crossed the halfway point.

2026-08-08T14:10:20.316Z

The peloton are upping the pace but they are not closing the gap with much speed. It is holding at 5’50” at the moment with 84km to go.

The gap drops to 5’44” thanks to Justine Ghekiere of AG Insurance-Soudal.

2026-08-08T14:01:49.549Z

It is now a long descent pretty much all the way to the penultimate climb with around 18km to go.

2026-08-08T14:00:43.339Z

AG Insurance-Soudal and FDJ United-SUEZ rejoin the front of the peloton alongside Liv-AlUla-Jayco with 94km to go. 5’57” up to the break.

1. Squiban (UAD) 2pts
2. Adegeest (LTK) 1pt

2026-08-08T13:57:58.214Z

The break are 500 metres from the top of the Col de Toutes Aures.

2026-08-08T13:56:36.948Z

Liv-AlUla-Jayco doing the work at the front of the peloton with one rider. However, they have Lidl-Trek sat behind her, basically all the riders from that team defending Adegeest’s lead out front.

2026-08-08T13:54:20.176Z

Before the break even got away it was certain that Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) had won the polka-dot jersey. She needs to finish both stages in the time cut, but she can now focus on stage wins.

2026-08-08T13:49:08.663Z

Coston caught by the peloton. 6’00” gap up to Adegeest and Squiban.

The peloton change the pace and the gap drops by about 15″ very quickly. Coston now only has 15″ gap on the bunch.

2026-08-08T13:44:31.305Z

Nadia Gontova (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) and Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) lead the peloton.

2026-08-08T13:43:24.078Z

The gap to the peloton goes over six minutes.

2026-08-08T13:38:52.285Z

Now about 10km to the top of the next climb, the Col de Toutes Aures. Cat 4, 6.4km long, 3.1% average.

Adegeest and Squiban have 5’00” on Coston with the peloton just 45″ behind.

1. Adegeest (LTK) 2pts
2. Squiban (UAD) 1pt

Squiban and Adegeest have 2’35” over Coston and 3’05” over the peloton. The average speed is up at 43.5kph so far.

2026-08-08T13:12:38.762Z

It has been very chaotic in the peloton with several riders trying to get up the road. Multiple teams have tried many times but none are getting a gap.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-08-08T13:09:39.340Z

The gap grows. The break are pushing on with Coston now at 2’15” and the peloton a further 20″ back.

Morgane Coston (Ma Petite Entreprise)

She is trying to bridge to Squiban and Adegeest. She currently is 1’45” back and just 15″ ahead of the peloton.

2026-08-08T13:05:19.943Z

It is all going well for Adegeest and Squiban so far.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Squiban and Adegeest have 2’05” on the peloton. Just 20km to the top of the first climb of the day. Starting in about 17km time.

2026-08-08T13:01:19.805Z

Vos is swiftly brought back by the bunch with the gap heading to above 2 minutes.

Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike)

The GOAT has taken it upon herself to try and bridge the gap solo. She has 10″ on the peloton.

2026-08-08T12:56:33.590Z

The gap is fluctuating between 1’30” and 1’45” between the two leaders and the peloton.

2026-08-08T12:51:44.167Z

Squiban is the best placed rider in the break at 24’48” down on Niewiadoma-Phinney placing her in 21st place. Adegeest is in 60th at 1:15’51”. Neither are any danger whatsoever. The gap now at 1’40”.

The gap continues to grow up to 1’35” as Coutinho gets back in after her crash.

2026-08-08T12:44:48.561Z

The gap to the leaders expands to 1’25” over the peloton. It is looking good!

2026-08-08T12:44:30.754Z

Squiban and Adegeest look to be pulling away for the moment, but things can change very quickly.

Alice Coutinho (Mayenne Monbana My Pie)

She is back riding and is just 10″ off the back of the bunch.

Maeva Squiban (UAE Team L’IMAD)
Loes Adegeest (Lidl-Trek)

They have 50″ on the peloton.

2026-08-08T12:41:46.325Z

As did Marlen Reusser (Movistar)…

2026-08-08T12:40:57.482Z

Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ) really regretted the way she raced yesterday…

2026-08-08T12:33:10.917Z

Nooijen back in the peloton again.

Lieke Nooijen (Visma-Lease a Bike)

The Dutch national road race champion now goes after her teammate launched earlier. Once again, she only has about 5″ on the bunch with multiple riders closing down or trying to join.

All together at the moment with 40km to the top of the first climb of the day. It is basically climbing all the way to the summit from now but officially the Col des Robines is 2.6km long with an average gradient of 4.6%.

2026-08-08T12:27:42.452Z

Before Hengeveld was caught a rider from EF Education-Oatly jumped across the gap. This basically made the catch happen faster.

2026-08-08T12:25:17.264Z

Hengeveld caught by the peloton. All together again.

2026-08-08T12:23:36.726Z

It looks like Hengeveld may be heading back to the peloton again with 8″ now splitting her from the bunch.

Daniek Hengeveld (Visma-Lease a Bike)

The Dutch time trial champion has a gap of just 12″ over the peloton.

2026-08-08T12:14:33.925Z

After 10km of racing the peloton is still all together despite a few skirmishes to try and form a break.

2026-08-08T12:13:04.018Z

A look at Niewiadoma-Phinney’s beautiful yellow Canyon Aeroad CFR…

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-08-08T12:07:58.050Z

First look at Niewiadoma-Phinney decked out in yellow. But she hasn’t gone all out just yet.

Racing begins on stage 8 of the Tour de France Femmes 2026!

2026-08-08T12:04:35.069Z

To get to Nice from Sisteron the organisers could have chosen a brutal day in the Maritime Alps. But, after the finish on Mont Ventoux yesterday and the laps around Col d’Eze tomorrow, they have gone with this ‘flatter’ terrain to give some potential to recover a bit on the bike. That said, with the neutral the riders are going 182km.

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The riders are still very much in the neutral zone as they leave Sisteron.

2026-08-08T11:59:15.795Z

Niewiadoma-Phinney wears yellow but also has the green numbers for most combative rider after her superb performance yesterday on Mont Ventoux.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-08-08T11:50:57.708Z

The riders are all set for the racing today…

Un midi au départ de Le Tour de France Femmes : Nice, on arrive ! 💪
#TDFF2026 🎥 Lisa Guérin

The riders roll out for what is a rather long 10.5km neutralised start to the day as they leave Sisteron.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-08-08T11:35:29.156Z

Five minutes until the neutral start.

2026-08-08T11:32:51.305Z

Make sure to vote in our ‘have your say’ section and comment below who you pick is for the day. It could be one of the most open stages of the whole week.

2026-08-08T11:28:53.376Z

Temperatures are expected to be in the mid to high 30s today with the current temperature in Sisteron sitting at 33°c.

2026-08-08T11:25:18.908Z

Breaking news!

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) will not start today’s stage after feeling unwell over night. The defending champion has had a Tour to forget.

2026-08-08T11:20:21.360Z

Unfortunately, one rider didn’t make the time cut on Mont Ventoux yesterday. Charlotte Kool (Alpecin-Premier Tech) missed it and is out of the race.

2026-08-08T11:17:19.396Z

Yesterday was a very special day for Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney as the Canyon-SRAM rider moved into yellow for the first time since she was crowned overall winner in 2024. She has two days to go but they aren’t straightforward in the slightest!

2026-08-08T11:11:07.761Z

Teams have been completing sign on and rider presentation in Sisteron before the start that will come in roughly half an hours time. 13:40 local time is when the neutral start is scheduled.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-08-08T11:06:49.434Z

Starting in Sisteron the route gradually climbs almost constantly for the first 77km with the rest of the day almost entirely being downhill before the final 20km where the climbs come before a mad dash to the line in Nice.

(Image credit: ASO)

2026-08-08T11:04:20.397Z

Today is the longest stage of the race with a tough route that takes on four category four climbs along the route with two of them coming in the final 20km. That said, it is expected to be a sprint with Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) saying her team are going all in for her…

Bonjour and welcome to Cyclingnews’ live updates of stage 8 at the Tour de France Femmes 2026!