Lilian Calmejane wins stage eight of Tour de France despite suffering from cramp

Frenchman Lilian Calmejane overcame cramp to win stage eight of the Tour de France as Chris Froome survived a brief off-road excursion to retain his yellow jersey.

Having attacked out of a breakaway on the final climb of the day, Calmejane cramped up around five kilometres from the finish of the 187.5 kilometre stage from Dole to Station des Rousses, allowing the chasing Dutchman Robert Gesink to close in.

But Direct-Energie’s Calmejane stretched himself out and got going again to win by 37 seconds from the LottoNL-Jumbo rider.

Froome and Sky team-mate Geraint Thomas had gone off-road when they misjudged a corner on a descent with around 45km to go.

Froome was quickly back on his way, with Thomas soon rejoining him at the front of a slowed peloton after he paced his way back on.

Froome leads the general classification by 12 seconds from Thomas, with Italian national champion Fabio Aru of Astana third, 14 seconds back.

Irishman Dan Martin, fourth overall at 25 seconds back, tried a late attack as the flamme rouge approached but the Quick-Step Floors man was quickly shut down by Sky.

A stage filled with attacks and counter-attacks was ultimately decided on the category one climb of the Montee de la Combe de Laisia Les Molunes, which crested a little under 12 km from the finish line.

Calmejane was first over the top, holding a 29-second lead over Gesink and 90 seconds on the peloton.

It looked to be all going wrong for Calmejane when he slowed dramatically on a short uphill section to stretch out his right hamstring, his advantage over Gesink tumbling. But his legs came back to him and he pulled clear once more.

Olympic champion Greg van Avermaet of BMC had begun the day as one of the favourites for the stage but after looking strong in the break, he blew up early on the final climb and went backwards.

Team Dimension Data’s Steve Cummings had also been tipped to have a go but the veteran Briton remained in the peloton to the finish.

Asked about his close shave, Froome said: “That’s just a little bit of a reminder of how quickly things can change in the Tour. One minute everything is going well, the next you’re in the ditch with your team-mate over the barrier lying next to you.

“That’s the nature of the race. It’s really scary. You think about all the things that could happen in the race. You never foresee anything like that popping up. It’s just one corner that twisted back on itself more than you expected and it could be the moment that ends your race.”

It was Calmejane’s first victory in the Tour as he makes his debut in the race.

The 24-year-old said: “I’m a bit of a practical joker in the team and I told everyone earlier this morning that I was going to win this stage but it was really a joke, so the fact I have come here and won is unbelievable.

“I had a few problems on the last climb. There was a lot of attacking and at the end I had to be strong – I suddenly found myself missing some energy.

“I knew to put a smaller gear on. If I had stayed with the bigger gear, I probably would have had to have stopped.”

Stage nine from Nantua to Chambery now looms large, with three hors categorie climbs including the feared Mont du Chat late in the day.

“It is going to be a monster stage,” Froome said. “We could see the general classification blown to pieces.”