Tour de France 2015: Stage 18

By
published

January 1 - July 26, Gap, France, Road - WorldTour

Refresh

Live coverage of stage 18 of the Tour de France, 186.5 kilometres from Gap to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.

The second of four successive days in the high Alps, stage 18 may lack a summit finish but it is no less spectacular for it. There are no fewer than seven categorised climbs on the menu, including the mighty, hors categorie Col du Glandon, and the short but spectacular Lacets de Montvernier in the finale, which boasts some 18 hairpin bends in the space of just 3.4 kilometres. The summit comes just 10 kilometres from the finish in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to boot.

The climbs on today's menu are as follows:

The general classification picture looks like this ahead of the day's action:

The mountains classification looks like this:

Peter Sagan, meanwhile, has an essentially unassailable lead in the points competition:

There were no fewer than six abandons on yesterday's first outing in the Alps, including Tour debutants Nathan Haas (Cannondale-Garmin) and Sam Bennett (Bora-Argon 18).

The most high-profile abandon of all, of course, was Tejay van Garderen (BMC), who dramatically pulled out on the Col de la Colle, suffering with a respiratory illness. You can read his immediate reaction here, and we will have more van Garderen shortly, as he reflects on his Tour exit 24 hours on.

Today's neutralised start is at 12:10 local time, with the peloton set to reach kilometre zero at 12:20, before facing immediately into the Col Bayard. The gruppetto could form early today.

The peloton is negotiating the neutralised zone before the flag drops for the start of stage 18. The temperature in Gap is 28 degrees as they set out.

Bauke Mollema (Trek) - 9th at 11:47 - was among the riders who performed a warm-up on the road rather than on the rollers ahead of the start. The opening hour of racing could be brutal today.

186km remaining from 186km

With Froome ensconced in the maillot jaune, Rodriguez is wearing the polka dots of king of the mountains on his behalf today, and he clearly has designs on earning the jersey in his own right before this Tour is out.

183km remaining from 186km

A group of some 16 riders is bridging up towards Rodriguez, Rolland and Arredondo on the upper reaches of the Bayard, though the peloton is just 25 seconds behind them.

178km remaining from 186km

175km remaining from 186km

The full list of 29 escapees is as follows:

170km remaining from 186km

163km remaining from 186km

Quintana and Valverde have two teammates in the break in Anacona and Castroviejo. Contador has Kreuziger and Rogers up the road, while Vincenzo Nibali has Astana teammate Jakob Fuglsang as an emissary out in front.

Froome has appeared invulnerable thus far on summit finishes, having dealt comfortably with the attacks on his jersey at Plateau de Beille and Pra Loup, as well as at Mende. Movistar have reason, then, to look to be inventive in the few days that remain in this race. The question, of course, is whether Quintana and Valverde feel they can genuinely discommode Froome, or whether they are already happy simply to finish second and third in Paris.

Another team with numbers in this break is Europcar. Jean-René Bernaudeau's squad is still without a sponsor for 2016 and its riders are free to look for other squads from August 1. Rolland, Voeckler, Gautier and Sicard will all surely find new homes regardless, but the Tour is the biggest shop window of them all nonetheless...

151km remaining from 186km

Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) leads the break over the Rampe du Motty to close to within two points of Froome's lead atop the king of the mountains classification.

The main peloton reaches the same point some 4:50 down on the 29 leaders. The next climb on the agenda is the category 3 Côte de la Mure (2.7km at 7.5%) in around 25 kilometres' time.

A disappointed Tejay van Garderen (BMC) visited the start of the stage in Gap this morning to speak to the media one day after abandoning the Tour through illness while lying in third place overall. "The hardest part was when I was getting in the bus. I got there before my teammates and I was sitting there and decompressing and thinking ‘okay that just happened’ but when my teammates came on the bus and I had to look them in the eye, that just killed me," van Garderen said. You can read the full story here.

137km remaining from 186km

136km remaining from 186km

Trek Factory Racing join Giant-Alpecin at the head of the bunch, with Bauke Mollema's 9th place overall in mind.

132km remaining from 186km

Dennis' attack fizzles out on the slopes of the Cote de La Mure, where the 29 riders at the front maintain that five-minute advantage over a peloton that is being propelled by Trek and Giant-Alpecin, under the supervision of Team Sky.

126km remaining from 186km

Rodriguez continues his effort over the top of the climb and his acceleration brings Fuglsang, De Gendt, Pauwels and Voeckler with him. After a short descent, they will face immediately into the Col de Malissol (2km at 8.7%). Rodriguez must feel the break has hit suitable terrain for a refining process of sorts.

121km remaining from 186km

The Rodriguez splinter group is brought to heel ahead of the Col de Malissol. The lead group is 29-strong once again, and holds an advantage of 5:25 over the main peloton.

116km remaining from 186km

Rodriguez leads Serge Pauwels over the Col de Malissol. A short descent follows before the category 2 Col de la Morte, which is a little less frightening than it sounds, though with an average gradient of 8.4% over 3 kilometres, it might well break up this 29-man group.

110km remaining from 186km

Despite being unable to claw back so much as a second from Chris Froome since the Tour entered the mountains, Nairo Quintana struck a defiant note after yesterday's stage to Pra Loup, noting that he felt his efforts have taken their toll on the Sky team. "Tomorrow’s stage [today] will be very complicated and the finish in La Toussuire is a course that suits me, it is all day up and down, with major climbs that are very hard and very long. Alpe d’Huez is a fairly long climb and the slope suits my abilities. There is terrain to bring the battle," Quintana said. You can read the full story here.

104km remaining from 186km

102km remaining from 186km

101km remaining from 186km

The break is on the long drop off the Col de la Morte as far as the sprint at Riouperoux with 79 kilometres remaining. The road is already climbing at that point, though the ascent of the Col du Glandon doesn't begin officially until after the Viaduc de l'Eau d'Olle with 64 kilometres remaining. The Glandon is 21.7km in length at an average gradient of 5.1%.

Giant-Alpecin lead the peloton on the way down the Col de la Morte. Four days from Paris, many teams are already looking to hold what they have. The big question is whether Movistar are among their number. Will Eusebio Unzue's squad race to retain their two podium berths, or will they take risks in the hope of putting Chris Froome in difficulty?

85km remaining from 186km

82km remaining from 186km

79km remaining from 186km

De Gendt's effort has split the breakaway group. Fuglsang, Rodriguez, Dennis, Talansky, Voeckler, Clement, Anacona and Dan Martin have joined him and they have 25 seconds over the rest of the break.

72km remaining from 186km

69km remaining from 186km

67km remaining from 186km

65km remaining from 186km

Thomas De Gendt is pegged back and now Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin) takes up the reins on the front of the break. The Canadian's pace-making is beginning to whittle down the escape, with Ruben Plaza and the TInkoff-Saxo duo of Kreuziger and Rogers among the riders to be jettisoned out the back.

60km remaining from 186km

59km remaining from 186km

58km remaining from 186km

Back in the peloton, meanwhile, Sky have taken up the reins and the size of the yellow jersey group appears to have been reduced considerably in the early kilometres of the Glandon.

Pinot has ridden out the early storm on the Glandon, settled into a rhythm and pegged his way back up to the group of leaders. A number of the dropped riders, including Thomas De Gendt and Arredondo, have already been picked off by the yellow jersey group.

56km remaining from 186km

Nicolas Roche, riding in support of Chris Froome, leads the yellow jersey group=. The pace is sensible for the time being. There is still a long, long way to the summit.

Out in front, Bob Jungels takes over as the break hits a brief downhill section on the Glandon. They retain a lead of 2:30 over the Sky-led peloton.

Nicolas Roche continues to lead the yellow jersey group, which has been thinned down to 25 riders or so and has just swept up Michael Matthews, another man dropped from the early break.

52km remaining from 186km

Talansky and Pauwels are also distanced by the front group, though the American is battling gamely to remain just about within touching distance.

Jungels leads Fuglsand, Rodriguez, Bardet, Gautier, Rolland and Anacona at the head of the race. After a big effort, Talansky manages to rejoin their number.

50km remaining from 186km

Froome still has Wouter Poels, Nicolas Roche, Richie Porte, Geraint Thomas and Leopold Konig for company at the front of the yellow jersey group with a little more than 10 kilometres of the Col du Glandon remaining.

Thibaut Pinot's ill-starred Tour in microcosm - the Frenchman is caught and passed by Thomas Voeckler on the Col du Glandon as he throttles back and waits for the yellow jersey group.

Bob Jungels has put in a very impressive stint of pace-making on the upper reaches of the Glandon, and his efforts have helped the break buttress their lead to 3:35 over the yellow jersey group.

48km remaining from 186km

The injection in pace has proved too much for Richie Porte, who sits up and is dropped by the yellow jersey group.  Wouter Poels is distanced almost immediately afterwards. Froome has just Roche, Konig and Thomas around him now, with Quintana and Valverde lined up just behind.

46km remaining from 186km

Alberto Contador accelerates from the yellow jersey group and immediately opens a small gap. Quintana considered following but thought better of it. For now, there has been no reaction from Sky, who seem convinced that Contador will wear himself out before the summit.

A grimacing Contador has opened a lead of 20 seconds over the Froome group and is in the process of bridging across to Barguil, Frank and Gesink.

Out at the front, meanwhile, Ryder Hesjedal has somehow managed to ride his way back up to the break. The leaders have 3:06 in hand on the Froome group with five kilometres to go to the summit of the Glandon.

Contador has bridged across to the Barguil group, and they have a lead of 40 seconds over the yellow jersey group. Sky have paid the move no heed as yet, with Nicolas Roche continuing to set a steady tempo behind.

42km remaining from 186km

Fuglsang, Bardet and Rolland forge ahead approaching the top of the Glandon, but Hesjedal is dragging the rest of the break back up to them once again.

Contador, meanwhile, is tapping out a decent tempo at the head of the chasing group. They are two minutes down on the leaders but a minute up on Froome, Quintana, Valverde and Nibali.

Jakob Fuglsang has crashed on the upper reaches of the Col du Glandon. It's difficult to tell from the television pictures precisely how the Dane fell. He swung out to the left-hand side of the road and looked over his shoulder before hitting the ground. It's not clear if he clipped a passing motorbike or if he fell by himself, but in any case, his hopes of stage victory are perhaps over.

Back in the yellow jersey group, meanwhile, Fuglsang's teammate Nibali has accelerated and jumped clear.

Valverde, Quintana and Froome zoom across to Nibali's wheel almost instantly. Thomas and Scarponi are in this increasingly elite yellow jersey group too...

39km remaining from 186km

Nibali attacks again inside the final kilometre of the Glandon. Only Quintana can follow immediately, but Thomas paces Froome, Valverde and Scarponi back up to him. These accelerations have slashed the lead of the Contador group.

Contador leads Barguil, Frank, Gesink and Ruben Plaza over the top of the Glandon with a deficit of 2:23 to Bardet and Anacona.

Nibali, Froome, Quintana, Thomas and Scarponi cross the summit at 2:38. Valverde was distanced on the final ramps of the Glandon, and he chases the small yellow jersey group over the top in the company of Bauke Mollema (Trek).

Romain Bardet has put a little distance into Winner Anacona at the head of the race on the early corners of the descent of the Glandon. The Frenchman is clealry looking to replicate his dare-devil showing on the way down the Col d'Allos during the Dauphine last month.

The Contador and Froome groups have merged on the way down the Glandon, while Valverde is closing in on their coattails to boot. Mollema, however, is unable to match Valverde's pace on this descent.

31km remaining from 186km

Valverde and Samuel Sanchez, meanwhile, have latched back on to the yellow jersey group, which seems destined to enjoy a shoot-out on the spectacular road up the Lacets de Montvernier before the final plunge into Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.

28km remaining from 186km

25km remaining from 186km

22km remaining from 186km

20km remaining from 186km

18km remaining from 186km

Bardet's lead ducks below 40 seconds. This is going to be a tough ask given the 10km to the line after the climb. There is a descent but then flattens out.

Cyril Gautier puts the pressure on Bardet and then Fuglesang does a big turn on the front of what is now a four-man chase group. Jungels and Anacona are also there.

The yellow jersey group is all together at the moment, 2:44 behind Bardet. 

Nibble attacks! Valverde gets on his wheel, Contador behind, then Thomas, Quintana Froome. 

Warren Barguil is off the back with Bauke Mollema and the Frenchman gives his companion a sarcastic thumbs up as Mollema just sits on on the upper slopes of this climb. 

5km remaining from 186km

4km remaining from 186km

2km remaining from 186km

2km remaining from 186km

Barguil, meanwhile, has edged his way back up to the yellow jersey group, but Mollema looks set to lose a handful of seconds.

1km remaining from 186km

Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) wins stage 18 of the Tour de France.

Pierre Rolland (Europcar) has to settle for second place after his late lone pursuit. Winner Anacona (Movistar) out-sprints Bob Jungels and Jakob Fuglsang for third.

The yellow jersey group is in the streets of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and there will be no change in the very upper reaches of the general classification this evening.

Barguil leads Froome, Quintana, Valverde et al across the line at 3:02. Mollema concedes 18 seconds to the rest of the top 10 as he comes home 3:20 behind.

Result:

"I knew the finale from the Dauphiné as well so I knew it by heart," Romain Bardet says before mounting the podium. "The hardest part of the stage was to get into the break in the first kilometres. It was very hard and very fast early, but I had to get through that to get into this position. It was like being in a football stadium at the end, there was so much noise."

General classification after stage 18:

Bardet's stage victory is also enough to lift him into the top ten on general classification - ahead of Warren Barguil, which also makes him the best-placed Frenchman.

Bardet led over the Glandon and the Lacets de Montvernier, meaning that he draws level with Joaquim Rodriguez atop the king of the mountains classification, though the Catalan will wear the jersey tomorrow by dint of his better record on hors categorie climbs.

The anticipated onslaught from Movistar never materialised, while Froome and Sky dealt relatively comfortably with the attacks of Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali. "It’s hard to control things in these mountains," said directeur sportif Nicolas Portal. "The Glandon is very hard but I think the team did very well to hold off the attacks that were made against us. We did well to weather the storm."

Result:

Thanks for joining today's live coverage from the Tour de France. We'll be back with more tomorrow on the road from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to La Toussuire, as the peloton takes on the Col du Chaussy, the Col de la Croix de Fer and the Col du Mollard before the 18km haul to the finish. In the meantime, you can find a full report, results and pictures from today's stage here. We'll also have all the news from today's stage, and our team in the Alps is also working on the latest instalment of the Cyclingnews Tour de France Podcast, sponsored by Eurosport.

Latest on Cyclingnews