Tour de France Femmes 2025 - Stage 8: Lichtenberg's preview: Showdown on the Madeleine?

Stage 8 | Saturday, 2 August 2025 | Chambéry - Saint François Longchamp - Col de la Madeleine | 111.9 kilometres | 3517 vertical metres

Claudia Lichtenberg's assessment of stage 8

This is the stage that matters: with the mountain finish at the Col de la Madeleine and a total of around 3,500 metres of climbing. The final climb is similarly steep at 8.1 per cent, but at 18.6 kilometres, it is almost five kilometres longer than last year's decisive final climb to Alpe d'Huez (14 km at 7.9 %). On the other hand, this year we don't have the same pre-load as in 2024, when the race previously went over the Col du Glandon. Therefore, a larger group of female climbers than last year will probably ride together on the final climb.

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Which will certainly also play a role: The altitude is really high. At 1900 metres above sea level, you can feel the mountain air - from Saint-François-Longchamp onwards, we are already above the tree line. How you cope with this can be crucial. The abrupt start with the 13 kilometre long Col de Planpalais is certainly important in the battle for the time limit. If you're off the pace right at the start and can't find a good group, you might fall outside the time limit. Overall, it's the most important day of this Tour, not just because of the final climb, but because things can fall apart right at the start and it's essential to be in good hands with your team-mates. Above all, the stage is short - that means a faster pace and a tighter time limit.

Schedule, TV coverage & live stream of stage 8 of the Tour de France Femmes 2025

• Neutral start: 13:45, sharp start 14:00
• Estimated arrival time: between 17:15 and 17:43
• TV broadcast: ARD 17:30-18:00, Eurosport 1 13:30-18:00
• Live stream: ARD-Mediathek, sportschau.de, Discovery Plus (for a fee)

TOUR expert Claudia Lichtenberg

She was one of the best tour specialists in German cycling - at a time when there was no Tour de France for women. Claudia Lichtenberg won the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de l'Aude in 2009 under her maiden name Häusler, the toughest stage races in women's cycling at the time. Alongside her job as a racing cyclist, she completed a degree in mechanical engineering. Today, the 39-year-old from Munich works as an engineer and, together with her husband Christian, comments on women's races on the Discovery+/Eurosport platforms.