The Tour de France climbing tomorrow and Sunday will test Dan Martin and Nicolas Roche to the limit.

Dan Martin, Nicolas Roche for huge Tour de France weekend

Dan Martin and Nicolas Roche look well poised for a huge Tour de France weekend to come.

The Irish riders were anonymous during the past two sprinters’ stages.

Roche and Martin were 38th and 57th respectively on today’s stage 7, which ended in a bunch sprint.

The 213.5km leg from Troyes to Nuits-Saint-Georges was won by Martin’s QuickStep team mate Marcel Kittel.

The big German also won Thursday’s stage, with Roche and Martin once again in the bunch; 24th and 52nd after 216km into Troyes.

Dan Martin remains 4th overall, some 25 seconds off the yellow jersey. His cousin Roche (BMC Racing) is 21st, at 2:14.

Martin is also in 2nd place in the climbers’ classification. He is just two points behind the man who beat him into 2nd place on stage 5, Fabio Aru (Astana).

Tomorrow's stage 8 Tour de France profile.

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While Dan Martin took that 2nd place and had been third on stage 3, both with uphill finishes; the climbs to come should do a lot more damage.

Tomorrow’s stage 8 takes the riders 187.5km from Dole to Station des Rousses. It features three climbs.

First up is the cat 3 Col de la Joux and then the cat 2 Côte de Viry.

However, it is the near-12km cat 1 Montée de la Combe de Laisia les Molunes that will do the damage. It is crested about 11km from the finish and there is no big descent after it.

That may suit Martin down to the ground as anyone who loses time on the climb is unlikely to get back on.

However, it is also a scenario where having strong team mates – to bring you back up to or pull away from rivals after the climb – could be really important.

And that is not a department where Dan Martin is strong, unfortunately. But in his current form it is very likely he will be turning the screw tomorrow.

Sunday’s stage 9 from Nantua to Chambery is a brute; 181.5km long and with a feast of climbing.

Almost immediately after the start there’s a cat 2 climb, followed by no descent and cat 3. The riders then face five more climbs; a cat 3 and cat 4 and three hors cat ascents.

The hors cats are the Biche, Grand Colombier and Mont du Chat; the latter peaking out 26km from the finish.

Stage 7: Troyes - Nuits-Saint-Georges (213.5km)

1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 5:03:18
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
3 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
4 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin
5 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
6 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
7 Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
8 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
9 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
10 Daniel Mclay (GBr) Team Fortuneo - Oscaro
11 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ
12 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
13 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Direct Energie
14 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
15 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty - Groupe Gobert
16 Jack Bauer (NZl) Quick-Step Floors
17 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
18 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
19 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
20 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert
38 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
57 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors

General Classification

1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 28:47:51
2 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:12
3 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:14
4 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:25
5 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:39
6 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 0:00:43
7 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:47
8 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:52
9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:54
10 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:01
11 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac
12 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:07
13 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:24
14 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:29
15 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:01:33
16 Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky 0:01:47
17 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:51
18 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:01:56
19 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:57
20 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Dimension Data 0:02:00
21 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team 0:02:14
22 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 0:02:27
23 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:02:30
24 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky 0:02:32
25 George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:02:34