A flurry of numbers, statistics, and points of reflection from the eighth stage of the Tour de France.

8: A NEW WINNER
Jonathan Milan, a Tour de France rookie, took 8 stages to raise his arms for the first time. The Italian achieved his 7th victory of the year, the 23rd of his professional career, which began in 2021. This is his 5th victory in a Grand Tour, after four in the Giro d'Italia (one in 2023, three in 2024). He is also the first Tour 2025 rookie (out of 49 at the start) to win!

113: FORZA ITALIA
Jonathan Milan ends Italy's longest Tour victory drought. The country hadn't won in 113 stages. This is the 266th Italian victory at the Tour. The last was Vincenzo Nibali's win at Val Thorens in 2019 (stage 20), 2,177 days ago. For the last victory by an Italian sprinter, we go back to Elia Viviani in Nancy in 2019 (4th stage).

2: TWO COMBATIVE RIDERS
After being in the breakaway for 71 kilometers, Mathieu Burgaudeau and Mattéo Vercher were awarded the combativity prize... together! This is only the fourth time in history that two cyclists have received the award. Previous instances: Yves Hezard and Raymond Martin (Super-Besse 1978), Juan Antonio Flecha and Johnny Hoogerland (Saint-Flour 2011), Julian Alaphilippe and Tony Martin (Bern 2016). It's the second time it has happened to two riders from the same team, in this case TotalEnergies. At the time, Alaphilippe and Martin were riding for Etixx-Quick Step.

112-113-114: MILAN, IT WAS WRITTEN
The 112th edition of the Tour de France saw Italy end a 113-stage drought, on the day Jonathan Milan became the 114th Italian rider to win a Tour stage.

12: ALMOST OVER FOR VAN AERT AND VISMA
Second today, Wout van Aert recorded his best result since the start, but now he has eight podiums without a win. The Belgian hasn't won since stage 20 of the 2022 Tour, a time trial between Lacapelle-Marival and Rocamadour. This leaves 12 podiums without victories for the Visma - Lease A Bike team, which still leads the team classification.

1: INTERMEDIATE SPRINT KING
112 of Jonathan Milan's 192 points were won in intermediate sprints. The Italian has made these intermediate sprints a key element in his pursuit of the green jersey. He won these sprints in stages 1, 3, 6, and 8. For stages 2 (5th), 4 (5th), and 7 (6th) he wasn't first... but each time he won the group sprint, beating his direct rivals in the points classification!

168: THE BRAVE ALMEIDA
Joao Almeida finished 168th, 6'42" behind Jonathan Milan, his worst position in a Grand Tour stage (he has 4 Giros d'Italia, 3 Vueltas a España, and this is his 2nd Tour de France). The Portuguese is fighting against pain, yesterday he suffered a rib fracture (left side) and body abrasions.

3: ITALIAN CELEBRATION
Not only did Italy win, but there were also three Italians in the top 10 (Jonathan Milan 1st, Alberto Dainese 8th, Vincenzo Albanese 9th). This is the first time since stage 13 of the 2022 Tour, which ended in Saint-Étienne (Filippo Ganna 6th, Luca Mozzato 9th, Andrea Pasqualon 10th).

10: LIDL-TREK TWO YEARS LATER
Jonathan Milan gives Lidl-Trek its 10th Tour victory, the first since Mads Pederson in Limoges in 2023 (8th stage).