The pack of riders cycles on its way during the second 201 km stage of the Tour de France cycling race from York to Sheffield, July 6, 2014.
The pack of riders cycles on its way during the second 201 km stage of the Tour de France cycling race from York to Sheffield, July 6, 2014. REUTERS

Tour de France Stage 8 gives the first real test for the bikers. After sprinters' dominance through the first seven stages, the Tomblaine to Gérardmer La Mauselaine race will showcase the ability of the general classification contenders this coming Saturday.

Mateo Trentin of Italy got the best of Peter Sagan of Slovakia in an exciting finish in Stage 7. Sagan appeared to have the race under control in the final dash, but Trentin came out of nowhere to take the victory.

Sagan and Greg Van Avermaet were leading into the final few meters of the stage, when crashes once again marred the race. The peloton managaed to catch the leaders, putting more pressure on Sagan.

In a blink of an eye, Trentin made his final dash to suprise Sagan and everybody waiting in the finish line. Trentin took his second career stage victory of the Tour de France, while Sagan is still in strong position in general classification standings as he currently holds third place behind Jakob Fuglsang and Vincenzo Nibali (yellow jersey holder).of Astana.

Tomblaine - Gérardmer La Mauselaine

Tomblaine to Gérardmer La Mauselaine stage will squeeze the best of the bikers, featuring flat surface for the first 131 kilometers before going towards Category 2 Col de la Croix des Moinats.

The tough journey keeps going with another tough ascent towards Grosse Pierre, which features impossibly hard steep 10% ramps, and another one towards Gérardmer La Mauselaine, which has an average gradient of 10.3 percent.

Joaquim Rodriguez and Alejandro Valverde are the favorites of this race, but Alberto Contador might be in the mix down the end.

"The breaking point is here. Everybody's tired. The tension is constant since the start of the Tour. And that's why many riders will crack. We checked the climbs and it's tough', said BMC team director Yvon Ledanois.

"There's a lot up for grabs. The Vosges are a great playground, the stages are well designed and its possible to try something," said Philippe Mauduit, Alberto Contador's team chief at Tinkoff-Saxo.

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