The first week of the 2024 Tour de France drew to a dramatic close on Sunday evening, as the white gravel roads of the Champagne region near Troyes welcomed the 173 remaining riders to do battle for over four hours. A strong breakaway made its way up the road to fight for the stage but not without one of the most thrilling fights and lightning-fast starts to a Grand Tour stage in recent memory. The exhilarating racing didn’t end there, with the GC favourites igniting the racing behind.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) lit up the day with attacks on the gravel sectors but neither could stay off the front and hold a gap on the Visma-Lease a Bike-led peloton working for defending champion Jonas Vingegaard. The racing was breathless from flag to flag in Troyes, with the battle in the break coming right down to the line in a reduced-group sprint after Jasper Stuyven’s (Lidl-Trek) late attack was caught at the last gasp. Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) claimed a wonderful win for the small French team who proved they are worth every bit of their wildcard entry to the race, silencing the criticism they had deservedly been facing for not animating the racing in the first eight stages.
The GC favourites crossed the line together after their all-out fight but messages were sent and different strategies were played out, with Evenepoel later criticising Vingegaard for not pacing when three of the ‘big four’ got away from the likes of Primo.