2024 Tour de France: Stage 18 Results

After a long breakaway with a large group of attackers, it was Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-dstny) strongest at the finish to win Stage 18 of the 2024 Tour de France over Michal Kwiatkowski and Matteo Vercher (Total Energies). No change in the general classification as the leaders all finish together.

Today’s Stage 18 of the 2024 Tour de France is a 179.5 km adventure from Gap to Barcelonnette. While tougher challenges await at the end of the week before the race’s conclusion, today would be far from easy, especially with the pace the peloton is likely to start at. There was expected to be a battle to get a breakaway going, with attacks possibly coming as early as the first categorized climb at km 28, the Col du Festre (Cat. 3, 3.9 km at 6.3 %). The day serves up five Category 3 climbs in total.

As the race gets underway, it was Krists Neilands (Israel – Premier Tech) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin – Deceuninck) leading the first attacks. Neilands was joined by Stefan Küng (Groupama – FDJ) in a two man attack.

Riders like Van Aert, Hindley and Cort all make attempts to get clear as well, but the peloton was having none of that, and the peloton regrouped at km 3.

At km 7 Ryan Gibbons (Lidl – Trek), the South African road race and time trial champion,  tries his luck with 20 or so others in tow. Jasper Stuyven of Lidl-Trek, followed by Clement Russo of Groupama – FDJ, jumped off the front of that group for a solo attack and created a decent gap, but he was caught by km 19.

Hindley, Bernard, Quinn, Mühlberger, Van Aert, Lemmen, Johannessen, Skujins, Garcia Pierna and others made a go at km 26, with Lazkano, Aranburu and Carapaz bridging soon after. By the top of the day’s first categorized climb, the Col du Festre, the leading group of thirty riders had about a 50 second advantage over the peloton.

While no GC contenders, there was some serious riders in the lead group, including 8 former stage winners:

• Bart Lemmen, Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike),
• Chris Juul Jensen, Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla),
• Michal Kwiatkowski, Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers),
• Julien Bernard, Toms Skujins (Lidl-Trek),
• Bruno Armirail, Dorian Godon, Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale),
• Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious),
• Jai Hindley, Matteo Sobrero (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe),
• Valentin Madouas, Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ),
• Richard Carapaz, Ben Healy, Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost),
• Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-dstny),
• Hugo Houle, Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech),
• Guillaume Martin (Cofidis),
• Alex Aranburu, Oier Lazkano, Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar Team),
• Clément Champoussin, Raul Garcia Pierna (Arkea-B&B Hotels),
• Louis Meintjes, Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché-Wanty),
• Oscar Onley, Frank Van den Broek (Team dsm-firmenich),
• Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X),
• Steff Cras, Mathieu Burgaudeau, Jordan Jegat, Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies)

And that looked to be the break of the day. 37 riders leading the peloton by 3’00” by km 45.

At the top of the Côte de Corps, it was Carapaz and Lazkano attacking the break to fight for KOM points.

By the summit of the Côte de Corps, the break had a lead of 4′ over the peloton.

With 70km to go, the gap had opened up to 7 minutes. There were two categorized climbs left for the day.

Ben Healy, along with Neilands, Lemmen and Sobrero made an attack on the 4th climb of the day, but it was quickly shut down. It was then the turn of American national champion Sean Quinn, attacking with 64 kilometers to go. Quinn led the break on the climb but couldn’t force his way clear.

60km to go and the break was starting to fracture, spitting nine riders off the back as the pace went up. The gap to the peloton had increased to nearly 8’30”.

Over the Côte de Saint-Apollinaire, it was  Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) taking the top KOM points.

As the peloton started up the Demoiselles Coiffées, it was Geraint Thomas and Alex Aranburu joined at the front by Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike), Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech), Oier Lazkano (Movistar Team), Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché-Wanty) and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) with a 15” lead over twenty of their former breakaway companions. But they were soon all back together.

Kwiatkowski went on the attack and topped the Côte des Demoiselles first with Carapaz just behind. Meanwhile, the peloton was nearly 11 minutes back.

As the leaders close in on the final 30km, it was Kwiatkowski, Campenaerts and Vercher off the front, with the rest of the break chasing and Johannessen trying to get back on after a crash on the descent

With 22km remaining, the leading trio had Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike), Toms Skujins (Lidl-Trek), Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech) and Oier Lazkano (Movistar Team) chasing 18 seconds behind. In a second leading group, Wout van Aert tried to make a move but could get no one to go with him. The peloton was 14’20” back.

Less than 9 km to go and the leading trio continued to hold a lead of 42 seconds over the nearest chasers. The race was making the turn onto narrower roads as the stage closed in on the approach to Barcelonnette.

Into the final kilometer, it was Vercher making the first go, back he came back and forced Kwiatkowski to the front. Campenaerts had the legs for the sprint and made a clear win over the rest of the trio for his first TDF win.

Campenaerts: “Extremely Happy”

“A true pro must ride the Tour de France, finish the Tour de France, and win a stage in the Tour de France. That is everyone’s dream, and now, here in Barcelonnette, I can make it come true. It’s unbelievable. I’ve had the full support of my team over the past weeks. I went on a nine-week high-altitude training camp to prepare. All that time, my girlfriend, heavily pregnant, was by my side. While the rest of the team prepared for this Tour in the Dauphiné or the Tour of Switzerland, we were in the hospital in Spain for the birth of our son. That week was supposed to be a heavy training week for me. ‘See what you can do,’ my coach said. But I was tireless. Since Gustaaf was born, I’ve been riding on clouds.

“This is the highlight of my career, and I’m very happy to share it with this team. A young team, with little experience. But we are showing ourselves here. With Arnaud De Lie in almost every sprint, with a beautiful time trial. The atmosphere within the team is fantastic, and you can be sure that we are going to celebrate tonight,” he concluded.

Stage 18 Brief Results

1. Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-dstny)
2. Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies)
3. Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers)
4. Toms Skujins (Lidl-Trek) +22”
5. Oier Lazkano (Movistar Team)

General Classification After Stage 18

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +3’11”
3. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) +5’09”
4. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +12’57”
5. Mikel Landa (Soudal-Quick Step) +13’24”
6. Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +13’30”
7. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +15’41”