British national champion Steve Cummings has won a stage on each of the previous two Tours and he has earmarked today as another one that could suit him.

As the riders role out of Dole ahead of the official start, Cummings is in his usual place at the back of the peloton. That's not the best place to launch an attack from but today's break probably won't stick from the off.

Here's Steve to explain: "The first 28km is flat and then we start a little climb. I have to wait for that climb when the race is hard and then there's only so many riders who can follow.

"If I go early, I could waste energy with other riders being able to chase me down. It's always a gamble and if it's not today, there will be others."

Image source, Getty Images

Hello and welcome to stage eight of this year's race - a 187.5km race from Dole to Station des Rousses in the Jura mountains.

I don't recall ever seeing a race finish as close as stage seven. We'll chat a bit more about that later but first let's get into the guts of today's stage because we could have big British involvement.

The likes of race leader Chris Froome, second-placed Geraint Thomas and Simon Yates in sixth will all be watchful today as the race re-enters the mountains.

But today could really be all about the break...

Image source, Tour de France

A few years ago, stage seven would have been called a dead heat.

But thanks to the wonders of modern technology, we got a winner.

The official margin of victory was given as 6mm. Half a centimetre. Get a ruler out and have a proper look at that. 6mm. Or 0.0003 seconds. After 231.5km or racing.

Team Dimension Data's Edvald Boasson Hagen was the unlucky loser as Marcel Kittel of the Quick-Step Floors time collected a third stage win of the 2017 Tour de France.

Astonishing.

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