Tour de France 2025 Stage 7 recap - Tadej Pogacar back in yellow after pipping Jonas Vingegaard at Mur-de-Bretagne

Nils Politt is going his best Tim Declercq impression on the front of the pack, tractoring along like a pedalling basking shark – the escapees up the road his plankton and krill. UAE have Alpecin have the five leaders on a tight leash with the gap around the 1’30" mark.

Meanwhile, here's Politt's leader Pogacar talking about Visma-Lease a Bike's tactics ahead of today's start:

And now we have the familiar sight of UAE and Alpecin-Deceuninck controlling the tempo on the front of the pack. You won’t expect them to give the breakaway much leeway because Pogacar will be keen to put more time into Vingegaard today, while Van der Poel is hungry for that elusive win in yellow.

With the gap up to 1’20", Frenchman Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) ups the tempo and edges clear with a group of other counter-attackers. The Frenchman is tipped to be joining Visma-Lease a Bike next year. As a result of his acceleration, the gap quickly drops to below a minute again.

The gap grows for the five leaders with everyone seemingly content to take a rest after a relentless opening hour. It will be interesting to see how large of a gap the pack lets this break build up. You get the impression that the main contenders for the stage win won’t give up so easily on this.

You know what, it could well be – because the peloton has sat up and all of a sudden we have five riders clear. Those riders are Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Marco Haller (Tudor Pro Cycling), Ewen Costiou (Arkea-B&B Hotels) and Ivan Garcia (Movistar). That all happened in a flash, which is odd given how fierce the battle has been for the past hour.

Powless – again! – bridges over with Mohoric to join Thomas Gachignard (TotalEnergies) and Mike Teunissen (Astana) to make a decent quartet ahead of the pack. But Van Aert is having nothing of this and he drags the peloton back.

Meanwhile, here's some reaction from Powless's team-mate Ben Healy to his win yesterday:

The Belgian has had some time to recover from his earlier effort and he’s now back on the front and setting the tempo in a bid to force the day’s move. The riders have now completed 50km at a staggeringly high average pace of 55km/h – and with Van Aert on the nose, the yellow jersey of his old rival Mathieu van der Poel has edged forward, alert to the danger. The Dutchman would love a win at Mur-de-Bretagne in yellow – on the same climb where he took yellow four years ago.

Nielson Powless comes to the front for another push and the American almost comes a cropper when overcooking a tight bend through a town. He’s forced to take evasive action to avoid slamming into the wall of a church – and many riders after him also make that same mistake. But no one goes down, thankfully, and the battle to get into the breakaway will continue.

Geraint Thomas, Tobias Foss, Axel Laurance and Sam Watson have all been pretty active so far today, so the British team are clearly targeting getting a body in the break. If, indeed, we ever see a break go – because at this rate, it’s just not happening.

Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) is the latest rider to have a go, the Frenchman’s attack countered by Norwegian champion Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility). Madouas opens a small gap but the chasers are champing at the bit and he will surely be caught.

Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) was pushing but, like Powless, the French debutant was reeled in. They’ve eaten up the first 30km in an average speed of 54.41km/h which may explain why no move has yet to stick. It’s proving very hard for the break to form today.

That move from Powless came to nothing and it’s back together with Victor Campenaerts once again trying to force something for Visma-Lease a Bike. The attacks and accelerations continue to rain down, with 20-odd going clear and many now trying to bridge over. Will something come from this latest development?

Buoyed by his team-mate Ben Healy’s heroics yesterday, Nielson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) is the next to try his luck and the American opens a small gap over the strung-out peloton behind.

The Frenchman from Tudor Pro Cycling has a dig but it comes to nothing – but there’s a lot of movement and pressure on the front, with Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) sniffing around along with Andreas Leknessund of Uno-X.

Van Aert and Schmid are caught so we go again. The Belgian’s team-mate Victor Campenaerts is back on the front setting a hefty tempo and perhaps paving the way for the next move.

Less than 10 seconds now for the leaders as Tim Wellens, on polka dots, drives the tempo on the front of the peloton in pursuit of around half a dozen riders trying to bridge over. It’s worth remembering that Ben Healy and Quinn Simmons were very active early on yesterday, and were indeed reeled in before having a second go and forming the day’s break – going on to finish first and second at Vire Normandie. So it’s not necessarily the end for Van Aert and Schmid.

Van Aert and Schmid are not getting much joy from all their efforts, with their advantage still only 12 seconds as they weave their way through a succession of pretty Breton villages and towns.

No one has managed to make the connection yet and the pace seems to have eased up in the pack a little, which could see the gap grow from the current 15 seconds.

Van Aert and the Swiss national champion Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) have a small gap of five seconds on the strung-out peloton, but more are looking to join the party including Matej Mohoric of Bahrain-Victorious.

A large breakaway has formed but it’s no done deal as many are trying to bridge over. The move was instigated by Visma's Victor Campenaerts, who led out team-mate Wout van Aert. He's usually a solid rider for a successful break so there should be a battle to get on his wheel. Jayco-AlUla are in the thick of things, too.

Christian Prudhomme emerges from the bowels of his air-conditioned Skoda, rises through the sun roof, drinks in the atmosphere, basks in the Breton sunshine, and then waves his flag to get the stage under way. And there’s a flurry of activity from the outset. Game on!