Giro d'Italia stage 18 - Live coverage

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 18 of the Giro d'Italia.

Around 20 minutes to the start of the stage, and it's a day for the fastmen after several stages in the high mountains where they will have suffered greatly.

Of course, before we talk about the sprinters and today's stage, the big news of the morning is that João Almeida is out of the race and out of fourth place after testing positive for COVID-19.

João Almeida out of Giro d'Italia following COVID-19 positive

Almeida lost 1:10 to race leader Richard Carapaz and second-placed Jai Hindley on Wednesday's mountain stage to Lavarone.

UAE Team Emirates DS told Cyclingnews at the start of today's stage that the team had thought Almeida was simply just on a bad day, but the Portuguese rider woke up in the night with a bad throat.

"We thought it was just a bad day," Baldato said. "He told us at the beginning of the climb he was not great and please guys support me as much as you can. In the car we screamed all the way up the climb with him.

"He was great up to the end, suffering and losing more time on the flat part than on the climb. In the end it's easy to say yes for sure that's the reason. It wouldn't be the first time in the past two years that COVID-19 has affected a rider's performance."

Anyway, back to today and it's a short day in the saddle at 156km. That's the reason for the late start for stage 18.

After three days in the high mountains, and the brutal day in Turin before that, today is a far gentler affair, with just two fourth-category climbs on the menu.

We're just under 10 minutes from the stage start now.

Here's a look at the stage results from yesterday and the GC standings heading into today's stage.

And here's a look at the map of today's stage. It's a day in the valley and then onto the flatlands of Veneto into Treviso.

The stage does end with a circuit – just two laps, though. At least the riders will get to see the finish before the dash for the line.

The final run to the line is not too technical, just two bends inside the final 2km and the last 1km is a straight run to the finish.

The riders have started the roll-out of 3.6km to start stage 18.

It's not surprising to see that Mathieu van der Poel wears the red number of the most combative rider today. Will he be part of the sprint for the line later on, too?

He was also our rider of the day for stage 17

156km to go

The flag has dropped and the racing is underway. The battle for the break begins.

Alpecin-Fenix, Eolo-Kometa, Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli, Jumbo-Visma, Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè all active at the front.

Edoardo Affini (Jumbo-Visma) leading the way currently.

151km to go

Magnus Cort (EF) and Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix) attacking now.

A couple more riders make the jump, too.

Affini and Davide Gabburo (Bardiani) have jumped across to De Bondt and Cort.

The gap is small, though.

147km to go

14 seconds between them and the peloton.

De Bondt, Affini, Gabburo, Cort trying to drive this on.

The sprint teams like Groupama-FDJ and QuickStep-AlphaVinyl would be happy to see this go. They're blocking the front of the peloton at the moment along with DSM.

Now the gap is going up quickly. 45 seconds and counting.

Van der Poel and Gijs Leemreize chat near the rear of the peloton following their big battle in the break yesterday.

143km to go

Now the blocking at the front has been broken and a rider from Eolo-Kometa is trying to get away.

Here's a look back at yesterday's stage, which saw Bahrain Victorious rider Santiago Buitrago take the win.

Buitrago drops Van der Poel to win Giro d'Italia stage 17

140km to go

A minute up to the breakaway now.

It looks like it's over and nobody else is going to get up the road now.

1:50 now for the breakaway.

135km to go

QuickStep, DSM, FDJ among the teams controlling the peloton.

132km to go

Ignatas Konovalovas leading the peloton for Groupama-FDJ. 2:05 up to the break.

The breakaway men are now on the first fourth-category climb of the day – Le Scale di Primolano (2.3km at 4.7%).

De Bondt leads the way. They won't contest the points here.

De Bont leads Affini over the top. No sprint for the top.

QuickStep, FDJ, and DSM are controlling the gap at two minutes here.

It's set to be a pretty quiet day out today. Not a whole lot to fight for beyond the final sprint. It's not one of those long, drab 200km+ stages, at least.

Today we're likely to see a sprint finish involving the likes of Arnaud Démare, Mark Cavendish, Alberto Dainese, Phil Bauhaus, Fernando Gaviria, and more.

Cavendish is reportedly seeking a new team for 2023 as he hopes to keep on racing, while his QuickStep team look certain to sign up Tim Merlier.

Yesterday, Eurosport pundit and ex-pro Bradley Wiggins told Cyclingnews that Cavendish definitely deserves a place in the peloton for next season.

120km to go

Still 2:05 for the breakaway. And still, the same teams are in control behind.

QuickStep, FDJ, DSM at the head of the peloton.

114km to go

The break now has 2:20. Not much change in the situation.

UAE Team Emirates also working at the front of the peloton.

De Bondt, Affini, Gabburo, and Cort are still working well out front. 

De Bondt and Affini have had a few conversations, while the Italian has just had a few words on the radio. Maybe about their very limited advantage so far? 

They have been speeding along so far and maybe they think there's little point in doing so, wearing themselves out while the peloton is matching their pace anyway.

110km to go

Meanwhile, Rui Costa is pushing hard on the front of the peloton.

Now just 1:45 to the break...

46.3kph average speed so far. Now the peloton has split up a little as Costa ups the pace.

Here's a look at the current breakaway with Gabburo at the front.

Groupama-FDJ lead-out man Jacopo Guarnieri is asking Costa what he's doing very animatedly.

This is a weird spell in the stage...

107km to go

1:15 for the break now.

Still a few seconds here and there come off the lead. DSM, FDJ, QuickStep back on the front now.

Out front the breakaway riders are still discussing the situation among themselves.

104km to go

It's still 1:15. The break have knocked it off a little.

The thinking it that the peloton will have to do the same unless they want to make the catch and have to go through another stint of controlling more attacks for another breakaway.

Now it's back up to 1:30. Rui Costa is back among the men at the front of the peloton but not pushing hard as he was before.

100km to go

Now the riders are passing the 100km mark and the situation remains the same.

Things have calmed down after that weird spell of the race. The gap is back up to 1:40 now.

94km to go

Frankly not much going on right now. Still 1:38 from the break to the peloton.

Another look at the breakaway today, with Cort leading Affini here.

A year ago today Dan Martin won his final race as a pro atop the summit finish of Sega di Ala.

You can reminisce about the Irishman's victory with our stage report here

86km to go

Back to today's race and the gap is down to 1:12. Still the same four breakaway men up front.

The riders aren't far from the halfway mark of the day.

The four breakaway men are also closing in on the stage's first intermediate sprint at Valdobbiadene.

Gabburo leads Affini, De Bondt, and Cort across the sprint point.

Cavendish and Démare are chatting at the head of the peloton as they pass through the sprint point. 

The Frenchman grabs four points to Cavendish's three. Not sure what they were discussing there..

Things have slowed in the peloton and now the gap to the break is back up to 1:50.

79km to go

The gap is fluctuating between around 1:35 and 1:50 here. The sprint squads are happy to hold the four breakaway men on a tight leash.

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73km to go

Just 1:05 now for the breakaway as the peloton speed up once again.

A look at Démare in the peloton as his team Groupama-FDJ, and QuickStep-AlphaVinyl in the foreground, lead the way.

69km to go

And now the gap is back up to 1:25.

It's up to 1:50 now. The break's advantage is all over the place but it doesn't change the state of the race much either way.

It's still the same teams working at the front. Groupama-FDJ, QuickStep-AlphaVinyl, Team DSM, UAE Team Emirates.

61km to go

2:35 for the break now as the peloton slows down a little.

5km to go until the second and last fourth-category climb of the day.

The Muro di Ca' del Poggio is 1.1km long at 12.3% with a max gradient of 19%.

Will anything happen on the climb?

2:30 as the break starts that hard and steep climb...

It's a punishing one but at 54km out it's hard to imagine it changing the race in the peloton.

54km to go

De Bondt leads Gabburo, Cort, and Affini over the top of the climb.

Groupama-FDJ and QuickStep-AlphaVinyl continue in control of the peloton up the climb and over the top. No attacks or big moves by any teams there...

So basically the same situation and the tough gradients of the Muro di Ca' del Poggio haven't affected the race there.

50km to go

Still 2:25 between break and peloton after descending off the climb.

Now the peloton have sped things up again. Rui Costa is back on the front. The difference now is that the other teams are also going hard, too.

46km to go

The breakaway have really sped up, too. Now the gap is up to 2:50.

It's all lined out in the peloton now as the pace has really gone up.

40km to go

De Bondt leads the breakaway through the second intermediate sprint to take three bonus seconds, though that doesn't matter at all.

Groupama-FDJ, QuickStep-AlphaVinyl and UAE Team Emirates are pushing very hard now. Two minutes to the break.

Under two minutes now. We're around 18km from the start of the finishing circuit.

There's no rain at the finish but it is threatening. Our man on the ground Stephen Farrand says the skies are grey and there's a breeze.

A storm over Vicenza is heading east to the finish at Treviso, so there could be rain before the finish...

33km to go

1:50 for the breakaway now.

Both peloton and break speeding along at 56kph at the moment.

31km to go

1:45 now as Alpecin-Fenix also join the pacemaking towards the front of the peloton. Otherwise, it's still the same group of sprint squads up there.

DSM, FDJ, QuickStep, UAE, Alpecin all working.

28km to go

1:40 is the gap now. The peloton isn't taking a ton of time here.

A look at the peloton heading up the Muro di Ca' del Poggio earlier on.

The gap is still around the 1:35-1:40 region as the break continue to speed onwards.

Cofidis are also moving up and putting riders at the head of the peloton now.

24km to go

1:30 now. A few kilometres to the start of the circuit.

Some of the contenders and outsiders today...

Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), Mark Cavendish (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious), Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates), Alberto Dainese (Team DSM), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), Simone Consonni (Cofidis), Andrea Vendrame (AG2R Citroën), Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Sacha Modolo (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè)

21km to go

The breakaway enter the final circuit in Treviso now.

1:20 back to the peloton.

Still dry roads for the moment...

The peloton looks smaller than it did before now. It's all strung out and some riders with no interest in the sprint or the GC will have dropped away already at these high speeds.

19km to go

A few seconds more have dropped away. 1:16 from break to peloton.

Still it's QuickStep, Cofidis, FDJ, up there.

Juan Pedro López (Trek-Segafredo) is dropped!

The new white jersey is a minute behind the peloton. He's eighth overall at the moment but seven minutes up on the next-best U25 rider, Thymen Arensman.

17km to go

1:15 for the break. López is a further 1:10 down now. He has Trek-Segafredo teammates helping the chase.

López lies three seconds up on Domenico Pozzovivo on the GC, while Hugh Carthy in 10th is around 4:30 back.

We don't have information on other GC men at the moment, but all of them should be up in the main peloton.

15km to go

1:19 for the breakaway now. The gap is holding.

Now the break hit the final kilometre – though there's still another lap to do after they pass through the finish line.

13km to go

1:11 for the breakaway quartet as they pass through the finish line.

López is 2:30 behind the break.

QuickStep lead the peloton through the finish.

Cavendish, Démare, and Gaviria are the main favourites for the win today.

12km to go

A now the gap reads a minute as the peloton pass the finish line.

Still all dry on the finishing circuit here.

Phil Bauhaus is reportedly in the chasing group with López. That explains why Bahrain aren't working at the front of the peloton.

11km to go

De Bondt, Gabburo, Affini, Cort continue to push on. 1:05 up now.

López's group is around 30-40 strong.

Van der Poel is out the back of the peloton. No sprint for him today. Alpecin-Fenix were just trying to disrupt the chase earlier, then.

10km to go

QuickStep, DSM, UAE, FDJ still up front in the peloton. 1:05 to the front.

López is 1:30 down on the peloton.

9km to go

This is going to be a very tense run-in. Can the break hold off the peloton?

A kilometre separates the two groups.

As well as López and Bauhaus, one of Démare lead-out men – Ramon Sinkeldam – is also in that group behind the peloton.

8km to go

The gap isn't changing here. Still 1:05.

Affini, De Bondt, Gabburo, Cort still battling away and working well.

De Bondy and Cort both good sprinters in the break. Affini is a time triallist so less so. Gabburo somewhere in between – he was second to De Gendt in Naples.

7km to go

Still over a minute back to the peloton. UAE now at the front.

6km to go

López and co are now 2:45 down.

If the break keep working well until they get to the final few hundred metres and start sprinting, they could well do this.

If they start attacking each other early then it's far less likely.

5km to go

The kilometres are flying by on this finishing circuit. 55 seconds back to the peloton from the break now.

All men up front still taking their turns.

If anyone goes early, you'd imagine it would likely be Affini here. He'd likely miss out in any sprint finish.

4km to go

Cofidis back at the front now.

46 seconds up to the break.

It seems like teams are holding back their top lead-out men, leaving fewer men to work at the front.

López's group is two minutes behind the peloton now.

The riders are flying along at 56kph.

3km to go

QuickStep, FDJ still up there among the other teams.

35 seconds now!

The seconds ebb away.

2.5km to go

32 seconds.

Cort, Affini, De Bondt, Gabburo, or the sprinters behind – who are you taking?

2km to go

28 seconds now for the breakaway quartet.

The seconds drop off metre by metre now.

QuickStep still lead the chase ahead of FDJ.

1.5km to go

25 seconds now.

1km to go

Final kilometre for the breakaway!

21 seconds!

Jai Hindley is out the rear of the peloton!

Cort is on the front.

Carapaz is in the main peloton still.

Affini second, De Bondt third, Gabburo at the back.

300 metres to go...

Cort and Affini launch!

It's Affini vs De Bondt!

Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix) wins stage 18 of the Giro d'Italia!

Affini in second.

Split in the peloton between the sprinters and the rest at the line. 

Hindley is rolling in over a minute down...

Dainese led Démare home 14 seconds behind the breakaway.

Cimolai, Cavendish, Gaviria, and Consonni next.

What a finish that was.

López's group only coming home now, over two minutes down.

De Bondt won from Affini. Cort in third ahead of Gabburo in fourth.

Hindley reportedly had a puncture late on. That would mean he doesn't lose any time.

De Bondt celebrates his victory. Alpecin-Fenix's third stage win of the race!

That dash for the finish. De Bondt just about took it ahead of Affini on the line.

Half a wheel in it. Here's the photo finish.

López loses 2:57 at the finish. He stays in ninth place as Domenico Pozzovivo jumps ahead of him into eighth place.

Here's what De Bondt had to say after the finish...

"It's a we question, not an I question. It was a collaboration until the last kilometre. We bought some time to speculate but actually we didn't speculate. I knew Affini was going to go from far in the sprint so I had to be on his wheel, and the pressure would be on Magnus – he was the fastest and had the biggest palmares in Grand Tour stages, so it was logical he'd be the first to go in the final kilometre.

"The collaboration between the four of us was magnificent – there was no moment of doubt, nobody skipped one turn, it was full to the line. I was the only one to pull off the break – they predicted this was going to be a sprint stage, and for sure Cavendish or Démare or Dainese was going to win – it was written in the stars. We made a plan between the four of us and we stuck to the plan and pulled it off.

"I can't believe it. It's my first. It was just a dream but I always said since I started cycling that I had dreams, then those dreams became goals, the goals I achieved. I had bigger dreams and made goals out of those and achieved another goal. I became Belgian champion, wanted to do a Grand Tour, then did a Grand Tour in the national jersey in my first Giro. I started dreaming of winning a stage here and made a goal out of it for this year, and now I pulled it off. It's amazing."

De Bondt celebrates his victory on the podium in Treviso.

Race leader Richard Carapaz finisheed safely in the peloton today. He continues to stage 19 at three seconds up on Jai Hindley.

Here's what he had to say after the stage...

"Today was a really fast stage. We thought it was going to be tranquil and easy but it went quickly today. We got through today, that's the most important thing. We saved the day and we've got two very important days coming up.

"Everybody was stressed coming toward the end because we were worried the group was going to split and that's exactly what happened. With these three days that are left, it was OK. We're focussed on the objectives.

"I'm feeling good. I think that's one of my strengths, I just keep feeling good and keep going."

Here's a look back at the tense final kilometre as the break held off the peloton in Treviso.

Here's our brief report on stage 18

Juan Pedro López continues in the white jersey despite his time loss.

Thymen Arensman also finished in his group at 2:57 down. Santiago Buitrago finished with the peloton, though, and now moves to second in that competition, though 5:05 down on López.

Koen Bouwman remains well in the lead of the blue mountain jersey. He has 218 points to Giulio Ciccone's 103.

Despite missing out on taking another stage win, Arnaud Démare is still some way clear in the maglia ciclamino. He has 254 points to Mark Cavendish's 132 and only needs to hang on through the final mountain stages to secure the jersey.

This evening we'll have news coming in from Bora-Hansgrohe, Ineos Grenadiers, Giro director Mauro Vegni, as well as a preview of stage 19 and a look back at a more eventful than expected stage 18.

Giro d'Italia: GC standings after stage 18

Hindley keeps his second place margin despite last-minute drama, as Carapaz holds the maglia rosa by a sliver

Our full report from stage 18 is up now, including a full photo gallery and results. Check it out below.

Breakaway holds off the sprinters as De Bondt wins Giro d'Italia stage 18

Our rider of the day today is Edoardo Affini for his part in helping the breakaway stay away until the finish line, staving off the sprinters in the process.

Talking, trusting, and a long lead-out – how the break won stage 18 of the Giro

'From the moment we started talking and trusting each other, there was not one turn skipped' says winner De Bondt

That's all from me today on the live coverage. Be sure to check the site for more news and reaction coming in from the Giro d'Italia.

And come back tomorrow for more live coverage as the peloton head back to the mountains in Friuli and Slovenia for a summit finish at Santuario di Castelmonte!