Tour de France 2017: Lilian Calmejane Takes Stage 8, Chris Froome Keeps Lead

Lilian Calmejane sprinted to victory in stage eight of the 2017 Tour de France on Saturday, although Chris Froome retained possession of the yellow jersey after keeping his spot atop the general classification.

Direct Energie star Calmejane won the race from Dole to Station des Rousses by acutely timing his drive up the stage's final climb to take a lead the baying peloton could not cut down.

Sunday will see riders take on stage nine's route from Nantua to Chambery before enjoying this year's first rest day on Monday, meaning many will be timing a big push to take their place among the hierarchy.

Cycling Hub posted Saturday's top 10 finishers:

And here's how the top end of the general classification looks after eight stages of this year's Tour:

The race to Station des Rousses would require another big push from the leaders following a frantic finish to Marcel Kittel's victory in stage seven on Friday.

Stage eight featured one ascent from each of categories three, two and one—in that order—the most daunting of which is the category one Montee de la Combe de Laisia Les Molunes, just 12 kilometres from the finish, as shown in Team Sky's profile:

The peloton refused to allow any early breakaway escape their sight in the stage's opening phases, knowing the warm conditions and climb-heavy terrain could result in the leaders scrambling to an easy victory.

A four-man break briefly emerged before Team Sunweb decided to cut it down and bring the peloton back up to speed. Those struggling to keep up then began to drop off approaching the only intermediate sprint, per Le Tour Data, which was won by Lotto-Soudal's Andre Greipel: 

An eager few again attempted to carve open a lead heading toward the day's first category climb, with around 50 finally allowed to spring free of the peloton around 90 kilometres in, although that then splintered into several smaller groups. 

The peloton lagged roughly three-and-a-half minutes behind the leading group as they approached the summit of Col de la Joux, with Team Sky working to ensure that gulf didn't increase any further, via ITV Cycling:

Warren Barguil won two mountain points for making it to the peak first, with him and Serge Pauwels having raced almost one minute ahead of the next breakaway group, via French broadcaster Carrefour France:

That pair eventually grew into a larger leading group heading up the category two Cote de Viry, and Barguil again took the mountain points, with the peloton two-and-a-half minutes behind.

It was at this point Team Sky members Froome and Geraint Thomas ran into a scrap while on a slight descent, taking the Tour off road briefly before eventually regaining a place among the leaders of the peloton:

The third and final ascent of the stage was also the tallest of the trio, Montee de la Combe de Laisia Les Molunes reaching an intimidating 1,202 metres at its highest.

A huge number of riders dropped off the peloton's pace at this point, reducing it to around 40 in number, before Nicolas Roche blew past Barguil, and he was in kind passed by French native Calmejane, not to the surprise of Pro Cycling's Daniel Friebe:

Team Sky continued to loyally protect Froome in advance of a late dash for the peak, with the finish line only 12 kilometres on from the top of the mountain and their crew seeking to time their push.

But Calmejane, 24, held an impressive one-and-a-half-minute cushion over the main group with a 10-kilometre flat awaiting him, but the young gun lost five seconds over Robert Gesink after coming down with cramp.

Even that setback couldn't hold Calmejane from roaring to victory in front of a home audience, however, as BBC 5 live Sport marked a maiden victory for the Frenchman:

In his first time taking part in the Tour de France, Calmejane added to the single stage victory he clinched at last year's Vuelta a Espana by adding to his race record another empowering triumph.

Monday's respite won't come fast enough for some riders, although they must first tackle Sunday's journey to Chambery in stage nine before they can afford to take their foot off the pedal.