July 13, 2025 • 5 mins
Two days, two sprint showdowns, and a whole lot of heartbreak and horsepower.
Stage 8 saw Jonathan Milan power to his first Tour de France victory in Laval, reclaiming the green jersey with a dominant uphill sprint finish. But the weekend double wasn’t meant to be —
Tim Merlier snatched Stage 9 in Châteauroux, outpacing Milan in a chaotic final burst after Mathieu van der Poel’s heroic 173km breakaway was reeled in just 500m from the line.
From “Cavendish City” nostalgia to blistering 80kph sprints, this recap dives into the tactics, triumphs, and tension that defined the weekend.
Plus, a look at how the GC contenders stayed cool in the heat while the sprinters stole the spotlight.
Stage 8 saw Jonathan Milan power to his first Tour de France victory in Laval, reclaiming the green jersey with a dominant uphill sprint finish. But the weekend double wasn’t meant to be —
Tim Merlier snatched Stage 9 in Châteauroux, outpacing Milan in a chaotic final burst after Mathieu van der Poel’s heroic 173km breakaway was reeled in just 500m from the line.
From “Cavendish City” nostalgia to blistering 80kph sprints, this recap dives into the tactics, triumphs, and tension that defined the weekend.
Plus, a look at how the GC contenders stayed cool in the heat while the sprinters stole the spotlight.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the weekend round up. It was supposed to
be a quiet one, but we had a bit of
action and a few people decided to rip up the script.
Minum's day and this is ride and thrive. So we're
going to go back to Saturday, which was the twelfth,
and that was at stage eight, and this was a
one hundred and seventy one kilometers and a supposedly sprinter stage,
(00:23):
which kind of it was. Really it was from Sammie
and La Grande to Laval, and there was a there
was a half hearted breakaway Matchew Bergerdout and Matteo Virtue,
both from total energies. Now they set off and decided
that they were going to have a go, but really,
in the heart of hearts they probably realized it's never
(00:45):
going to work. And the paloton only give them a
minute maximum, so they only let them get I think
with about a minute and two seconds the first they
got ahead, but they give it a good go, but
they got reeled in at the end and it did
turn in to the last couple of k's. All the
sprinting trains got in position and we had a standard
sprint to the line, which was won by Jonathan Milan
(01:08):
from Little Trek, and second was Wout van Arts from Vismal,
Lisa Bike of all People and Caden Groves rounded up
the podium place with third from Albasin d Kearney. Now,
I say Van Arts of all People because he was
interviewed before the race and specifically asked if he was
going to have a dig for the line have a sprint,
(01:29):
and he said no. And then I saw one of
the reporters asked him this morning before the race said, oh,
you know, we asked you yesterday and you were going
to sprint and you said no, and you did sprint.
You know why is that? And he had a bit
of a cheeky grin on his face. He said, well,
it's like you asking me if am I going to
(01:49):
do my best today? You know, of course I'm going
to do my best. You know, he's just having a
bit of a laughing joke and you know, of course
he's going to have a go if he can, so
so yeah, that was a little bit funny. So that
was that wrapped that stage up really pretty much. No
change in the classifications. Progatcha in yellow, Milant in green.
(02:11):
And then the next stage was at flat stage again.
Stage nine that was Sunday, and that was from Chinon
to Chateaurou and Chateau was famous for a lot of
wins from Mark Cavendish. You know, they called it Cavendish City.
They kind of renamed it affectionately Cavendishity because he's had
(02:31):
about three wins I think there, and he took his
first win there as well, back in I think it
was two thousand and eight, but don't quote me on
that one. And this was one hundred and seventy four
kilometers and the script was ripped up really by Albasinder Kearney,
and it was Matthew vander Pohl who set off with
(02:53):
Jonas Rickard is his teammate, and yeah, they just decided
to have a go, and the pedaltine kind of let
them go because they were all thinking that, oh, maybe
he's going for the intermediate sprint, because there was one
quite early on. But no, they just kept going and
then without Van Art, sorry not without Art, Matthew vander
(03:14):
Pohl decided to go off on his own and he
gave it a really good dig, you know, Chapeau of
the day to him, I think forgiving it a really
good go. But the paloton did really about seven hundred
meters from the line. You could see them looming behind
him in the background. You were willing him to carry on,
but he'd given it is absolute all and yeah they
(03:38):
caught him with I say, with a few hundred meters
to go. So that ended up then to be in
a straight up sprint to the line. It looked like
Jonathan Milan was going to get it, but it was
Tim Merlier from Sudele Quick Step for his second win
stage winn at the tour, Jonathan Milan came his second,
(03:59):
and Arnold Arnaud de Lee from Lotto he came third
to round off the podium places. Now there was there
was a few a few retirements, notably Hiao al Maida
from Emirates, one of what's his name Bagatcha should know
(04:19):
his name, one of Pergatcha's generals if you like. He
had to retire. He had a crash the day before
yesterday and it was a nasty and I think he
had a crap rib. He was riding with a crack
rib and a suspective broken finger and he just couldn't
carry on. So he had a retirement. So that put
Pagatcha stayed in yellow, Jonathan Millan in green, Tim Wallens
(04:39):
still got the polka dot jersey, and Remco even Apole
has got white. Now Remco is second in the for
the General Classification as well, which is a good effort
from him and Vocal and his third in the GC.
So that takes us to Stage ten, which will be
on Monday the fifteenth, which is Vasteel Day. Now, they
normally ever rest day on this particular Monday, but because
(05:03):
it's bastial day, they always like to race one day,
and because it's fallen on this particular day, they're pushing
back the rest day to the Tuesday. So they are
going to race tomorrow and it's too from Enazat to
Lamont d'Or and it's one hundred and sixty five kilometers
and it is a hilly stage. There are eight categorized
climbs on there, so that that will be it will
(05:24):
be an interesting day, maybe a shakeup on GC. It
will be a good chance to get a look at
the GC. And also because it's a rest day the
next day that the riders will be able to push themselves.
So we'll see, we'll see how that goes. Also keep
an eye out for my Rest Day Reflections. I've got
a special episode coming out on rest Day, so keep
(05:44):
an eye up for that. And yeah, thanks for watching guys.
I'll speak to you later Bye for now.
Welcome to the weekend round up. It was supposed to
be a quiet one, but we had a bit of
action and a few people decided to rip up the script.
Minum's day and this is ride and thrive. So we're
going to go back to Saturday, which was the twelfth,
and that was at stage eight, and this was a
one hundred and seventy one kilometers and a supposedly sprinter stage,
(00:23):
which kind of it was. Really it was from Sammie
and La Grande to Laval, and there was a there
was a half hearted breakaway Matchew Bergerdout and Matteo Virtue,
both from total energies. Now they set off and decided
that they were going to have a go, but really,
in the heart of hearts they probably realized it's never
(00:45):
going to work. And the paloton only give them a
minute maximum, so they only let them get I think
with about a minute and two seconds the first they
got ahead, but they give it a good go, but
they got reeled in at the end and it did
turn in to the last couple of k's. All the
sprinting trains got in position and we had a standard
sprint to the line, which was won by Jonathan Milan
(01:08):
from Little Trek, and second was Wout van Arts from Vismal,
Lisa Bike of all People and Caden Groves rounded up
the podium place with third from Albasin d Kearney. Now,
I say Van Arts of all People because he was
interviewed before the race and specifically asked if he was
going to have a dig for the line have a sprint,
(01:29):
and he said no. And then I saw one of
the reporters asked him this morning before the race said, oh,
you know, we asked you yesterday and you were going
to sprint and you said no, and you did sprint.
You know why is that? And he had a bit
of a cheeky grin on his face. He said, well,
it's like you asking me if am I going to
(01:49):
do my best today? You know, of course I'm going
to do my best. You know, he's just having a
bit of a laughing joke and you know, of course
he's going to have a go if he can, so
so yeah, that was a little bit funny. So that
was that wrapped that stage up really pretty much. No
change in the classifications. Progatcha in yellow, Milant in green.
(02:11):
And then the next stage was at flat stage again.
Stage nine that was Sunday, and that was from Chinon
to Chateaurou and Chateau was famous for a lot of
wins from Mark Cavendish. You know, they called it Cavendish City.
They kind of renamed it affectionately Cavendishity because he's had
(02:31):
about three wins I think there, and he took his
first win there as well, back in I think it
was two thousand and eight, but don't quote me on
that one. And this was one hundred and seventy four
kilometers and the script was ripped up really by Albasinder Kearney,
and it was Matthew vander Pohl who set off with
(02:53):
Jonas Rickard is his teammate, and yeah, they just decided
to have a go, and the pedaltine kind of let
them go because they were all thinking that, oh, maybe
he's going for the intermediate sprint, because there was one
quite early on. But no, they just kept going and
then without Van Art, sorry not without Art, Matthew vander
(03:14):
Pohl decided to go off on his own and he
gave it a really good dig, you know, Chapeau of
the day to him, I think forgiving it a really
good go. But the paloton did really about seven hundred
meters from the line. You could see them looming behind
him in the background. You were willing him to carry on,
but he'd given it is absolute all and yeah they
(03:38):
caught him with I say, with a few hundred meters
to go. So that ended up then to be in
a straight up sprint to the line. It looked like
Jonathan Milan was going to get it, but it was
Tim Merlier from Sudele Quick Step for his second win
stage winn at the tour, Jonathan Milan came his second,
(03:59):
and Arnold Arnaud de Lee from Lotto he came third
to round off the podium places. Now there was there
was a few a few retirements, notably Hiao al Maida
from Emirates, one of what's his name Bagatcha should know
(04:19):
his name, one of Pergatcha's generals if you like. He
had to retire. He had a crash the day before
yesterday and it was a nasty and I think he
had a crap rib. He was riding with a crack
rib and a suspective broken finger and he just couldn't
carry on. So he had a retirement. So that put
Pagatcha stayed in yellow, Jonathan Millan in green, Tim Wallens
(04:39):
still got the polka dot jersey, and Remco even Apole
has got white. Now Remco is second in the for
the General Classification as well, which is a good effort
from him and Vocal and his third in the GC.
So that takes us to Stage ten, which will be
on Monday the fifteenth, which is Vasteel Day. Now, they
normally ever rest day on this particular Monday, but because
(05:03):
it's bastial day, they always like to race one day,
and because it's fallen on this particular day, they're pushing
back the rest day to the Tuesday. So they are
going to race tomorrow and it's too from Enazat to
Lamont d'Or and it's one hundred and sixty five kilometers
and it is a hilly stage. There are eight categorized
climbs on there, so that that will be it will
(05:24):
be an interesting day, maybe a shakeup on GC. It
will be a good chance to get a look at
the GC. And also because it's a rest day the
next day that the riders will be able to push themselves.
So we'll see, we'll see how that goes. Also keep
an eye out for my Rest Day Reflections. I've got
a special episode coming out on rest Day, so keep
(05:44):
an eye up for that. And yeah, thanks for watching guys.
I'll speak to you later Bye for now.
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