Over the top of the climb, Daniel Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) attacked with Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) in tow and the pair looked to have built up a small advantage on the other contenders before running into the collapsing inflatable one kilometre to go mark.
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As the Tour entered the Pyrenees, the man of the day was once again a Briton from the African Dimension Data team – Stephen Cummings.
The 35-year-old made the break and avoided taking former Tour victor Vincenzo Nibali and yellow-jersey holder Greg van Avermaet with him, guaranteeing the victory over 162.5 kilometres from L’Isle-Jourdain to La de Payolle.
The Briton eventually finished in a time of 3 hours 51min 58sec to earn the second Tour de France stage win of his career, with South Africa’s Daryl Impey leading the chasing pack home 65 seconds down.
“I feel pretty exhausted, but I’m obviously ecstatic”, Cummings said.
It certainly wasn’t for young French hope Thibaut Pinot, who lost two and a half minutes and has now already written off his hopes.
Four of the first seven stages of this year’s Tour have now been won by British riders, with Mark Cavendish winning three but Belgium’s Greg van Avermaet held onto the leader’s yellow jersey, finishing fifth to extend his overall lead.
“I did not plan to be in a breakaway”, Van Avermaet said.
“We were a little too far back, Bernie [Eisel] and I, going into that”, Cavendish said, revealing the details of his sprint masterclass. “This (the Tour) is the biggest show, it’s much bigger than any Olympic Games”.
And he said his victory at last year’s Tour proved crucial in giving him the self-belief that he could claim high-profile victories.
After Friday’s anti-climax, Tour de France favourites Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana will certainly do battle on Saturday.
All 198 riders started the stage, marking the first time the entire peloton was still racing this late in the Tour in 103 editions.
“(Teammate) Alejandro (Valverde) went flat out to chase that move, but it wasn’t enough”, Quintana added. I had a different condition from previous year as I started the Tour riding for Mark (Cavendish) who is such a victor and an inspiration.
Stage 8 on Saturday is a much more challenging 184-kilometer (114-mile) leg from Pau to Bagneres-de-Luchon featuring four serious climbs, beginning with the Col du Tourmalet, which is so hard it’s labeled “beyond classification”.
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“We all wanted to peak at Mont Ventoux when the race will really start on July 14”, Pinot said. “I would imagine we’ll see bigger time gaps tomorrow”.
