Stage 7 Tour de France Summary
Stage 7 of the Tour de France was another difficult stage, but we learned something. In Stage 7, Tadej Pogacar rode away on the final uphill slog to the finish. It became clear Pogacar was a better rider, and that will probably play out for the rest of the Tour.
The stage had an unsuccessful breakaway, but it did include the 39-year-old Geraint Thomas, a Tour winner, who is the ageless favorite. That happens about 10% of the time. The breakaway was swallowed up by the Peloton with about 15 miles left in the race. Are you rooting for Thomas?
Stage 7 Of the Tour de France Summary
The winner of stage 7 was Pogacar, who sprinted away from rival Jonas Vingegaard on the final sprint to the finish line. For his trouble, Pogacar won back the yellow jersey from Mathieu van der Poel. Remco Evenepoel was second. The French hope Kevin Vauquelin was third. Vingegaard ended up fourth. van der Poel finished fifth in Stage 7. van der Poel rode an inspired race, but was unable to hold on to the leader’s yellow jersey. We have probably seen the last of him in that jersey.
Stage 7 featured an oddity. Riders climbed the famed Mûr-de-Bretagne twice. The stage featured riders doubling back on the race route. That is odd and rarely happens.
The overall classification may have been decided today on stage 7 of a 21-stage race. Pogacar regained the overall lead. Though the overall race remains close, and the bad luck of crashes is ever present, Pogacar will likely win this Tour de France if he stays upright. Evenepoel is in second place overall and in third place. Vauquelin is in third place overall. Will the Frenchman retain his podium spot? Vingegaard is fourth. Former yellow jersey wearer van der Poel is fifth, and American Matteo Jorgenson stayed in sixth.
Crashes: A Turn Of Fortune
One piece of remaining drama is whether, and who, will be involved in crashes. It is not an exaggeration to say that the riders in the Tour de France are taking their lives into their own hands. Riders have died in the Tour before. One of the key things about crashes is their random nature. It is the case that a rider who is next to you in the Peloton can fall into you. You may crash through no fault of your own. The random nature of the crashes makes the tour a must-watch and must-watch live and continuously.
While crashes are virtually guaranteed in sprint finishes (like stages 8 and 9), they can happen in hilly stages like stage 7. Today, about 6 kilometers from the finish, the peloton, or lead pack, had about 40 of the best riders. One of the riders, about midway through the lead pack, just fell. The riders behind him crashed into him and went down too.
In this crash, several contenders went down. João Almeida, Guillaume Martin, and Jack Haig went down. As did Santiago Buitrago, Guillaume Martin, Valentin Madouas, Louis Barré, Sergio Higuita, Eddie Dunbar, and Warren Barguil. It is still not known if those riders will have to abandon the tour, but Jasper Phillipson did.
Crashes are ever-present in the Tour de France and make the Tour must-watch television. One important thing to know is that if a crash occurs in the last 5 kilometers, all the riders involved in it get the same finishing time as the group they were in.
Conclusion
Stage 7 was long and mountainous. We did learn something as Pogacar regained the yellow jersey and rode away from his rivals on the final uphill section of Stage 7. As per usual, the breakaway was swallowed up, and as per unusual, there was a huge crash near the end that claimed several contenders. Stage 8 of the 2025 Tour de France is 171 kilometers. It will be a stage for the sprinters, with more crashes likely. Stage 8 goes from Saint-Méen-Légend to Laval.
