Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) was able to find another gear in the final 50 meters, and beat out Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) at the line to capture his third stage victory of the 2017 Tour de France.
Fortuneo-Oscaro rider Maxime Bouet was the first rider to attack, breaking off quickly after the stage began, as Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Drapac), Yohann Gene (Direct Energie), and Manuele Mori (UAE) followed suit to create a four-man lead pack.
Just 3 kilometers into the stage, the breakaway group had put a 1:45 cushion from the peloton, and expediently began to increase their gap as they separated to 3:40 in front of the field by the 16 km mark.
The four-man lead group started out at a high tempo, covering 44 kilometers in the first hour of racing, but the peloton slowly began to creep up on the breakaway, as the gap was reduced to only 2 minutes after 68 kilometers of racing.
The second hour of Stage 7 was noticeably slower for the field, as the lead group covered 39 kilometers in the second hour of racing, a 5 kilometer difference from the first hour, as their gap on the chase group held at 2:30.
Just over halfway through the stage at the 108 km mark, the lead pack rode into the town of Chanceaux for the only intermediate sprint checkpoint of the stage. Manuel Mori was able to beat out the rest of the lead pack and capture the intermediate sprint on the day. Maxime Bouet was the second rider to cross the line in Chanceaux, while Yohann Gene and Dylan van Baarle took third and fourth, respectively.
The peloton reached Chanceaux 1:40 back of the lead group, as a bunch sprint set up to capture the remaining points at the intermediate sprint checkpoint. Bahrain-Merida rider Sonny Colbrelli was the first rider from the peloton to cross the line at the intermediate sprint, capturing 11 points towards the green jersey, ahead of Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) and Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal).
The riders continued to conserve energy in the third hour of racing, and covered just under 37 kilometers.
On the only major climb of the day at the category 4 Cote d'Urcy, Maxime Bouet was able to beat out Manuele Mori on a sprint to the line to capture the mountains classification point.
With 28 kilometers remaining to the finish in Nuits-Saint-Georges, the peloton began to close the lead group's gap on the field, reducing the breakaway's cushion to only 30 seconds.
7 kilometers from the finish, Yohann Gene was the first rider from the lead group to break and was quickly swept up by the chase pack, leaving only Bouet, Mori, and van Baarle left in the lead group.
1 kilometer after Gene dropped back into the peloton, the remaining three riders from the original breakaway group fell back as well as the main field battled towards teh finish in Nuits-Saint-Georges.
The FDJ team set the pace with 3 kilometers to go, as the bunch sprint set up in the final kilometer.
Edvald Boasson Hagen looked to have captured the sprint victory on Stage 8, but Marcel Kittel pushed the pace in the final 30 meters and narrowly beat out Boasson Hagen at the line to capture his third stage victory at this year's Tour de France.
Rounding out the top five for the stage were Michael Matthew (Team Sunweb), Alexander Kristoff (Katush-Alpecin), and John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo).
For his efforts, Kittel will take the lead in the points classification and wear the green jersey on Stage 8.
Chris Froome (Team Sky) will wear the yellow overall leader jersey once again on Stage 8, maintaining his 12 second lead over Sky teammate Geraint Thomas.
Fabio Aru will retain the polka dot jersey as leader of the mountains classification standings, while Simon Yates (Orica-Scott) will keep his place atop the best young rider classification.
Team Sky will maintain their lead in the team classification, with a 1:59 margin over BMC.
Stage 8 will take the peloton into the Jura mountains, on a 187.5 kilometer route from the commune of Dole to the mountain summit at Station des Rousses on the France-Switzerland border.
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