Michal Kwiatkowski and Richard Carapaz of the INEOS-Grenadiers team crossed the line arm-in-arm today in La Roche-sur-Foron at Stage 18 of the 2020 Tour de France. It’s the first Tour de France stage victory for Ineos, coming after the last one under the colours of Team Sky by Geraint Thomas at L’Alpe d’Huez in 2018. Kwiatkowski’s last victory was the 2018 Tour de Pologne.
Carapaz and Kwiatkowski moved to the front 3.5km before the summit of the Montée du Plateau des Glières. Mikel Landa (Bahrain-McLaren) rode away from the yellow jersey group but he got brought back just before the summit as Pogacar attacked to score some KOM points.
Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) punctured on the gravel section of Plateau des Glières. It took him 20km to make it back to the yellow jersey group as the last ten kilometres were looming and only two riders remained ahead of them.
Carapaz and Kwiatkowski rode the last 27km together. They shared their celebration with the crowd in the last 800 metres. Kwiatkowski took the win while Carapaz moved into the lead of the KOM competition with two points more than Pogacar. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) made sure that none of Primoz Roglic’s rivals took the time bonus of the third place so the Slovenian retained the yellow jersey with the same advantage over his three closest adversaries meanwhile Landa entered the top 5.
Stage 18 Brief Results:
- Michal Kwiatkowski (INEOS Grenadiers) at 4h 47’33”
- Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) s.t.
- Wout Van Aert (Team Jumbo Visma) at 1’51”
- Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo Visma) 1’53”
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) s.t.
General Classification After Stage 18:
- Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo Visma) at 79h 45’30”
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) at 57″
- Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team) at 1’27”
- Richie Porte (Trek Segafredo) at 3’06”
- Mike Landa (Bahrain McLaren) at 3’28”
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