Tour de France: Demare wins stage 18 in Pau

Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) took a long-awaited bunch-sprint victory on stage 18 at the Tour de France. The Frenchman benefited from a superb lead-out, jumping inside the final 200 metres to take the win ahead of Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) and Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) in downtown Pau.

The victory was sweet relief for Demare, who has struggled to make the time cut in several mountain stages in order to contest the final two sprint stages in Pau and Paris.

"I've been through some difficult moments but I really wanted to make it to the final sprints and play my cards. I always believed in myself and my chances of winning in this Tour," Démare said. "Winning today, before the final chance on the Champs Elysees is great for my motivation. This is for my wife, my family and my friends. People who know me, know how hard I trained for the Tour de France and this goal. That's why I'm so happy today."

Groupama-FDJ went into the stage knowing that it was one of their last chances to secure a stage win at this year's Grande Boucle, and as such, did the necessary work to keep a five-man breakaway at bay for much of the race.

With occasional help from other teams with strong sprinters, the breakaway was reeled back in just after the final climb of the day, Cote d'Anos, roughly 20km from Pau.

There was a re-shuffling of the lead-out trains inside the final six kilometres that saw Bora-Hansgrohe come to the fore for green jersey Peter Sagan, confirming that he was healthy enough to try and sprint after the injuries he sustained in a crash the previous day. Maciej Bodnar led the team, which allowed Sagan to sit well-positioned in fourth wheel.

Bora-Hansgrohe kept the speeds high but soon faced contention from UAE Team Emirates as Alexander Kristoff moved toward the front inside the final 2km. Both teams were swarmed, however, in a battle for the front between Cofidis, EF Education First-Drapac and Trek-Segafredo.

Tom Scully (EF Education First-Drapac) led the field through a sharp left-hand corner, and then under the flamme rouge, but Cofidis quickly overtook him.

It was then Trek-Segafredo's Jasper Stuyven who led the peloton through the final bend with 500 metres to go, but as they straightened up for the run-in to the finish line, Stuyven swung off the front and looked back to see his sprinter John Degenkolb positioned too far back.

In a textbook lead-out, Groupama-FDJ kicked it into a full sprint for Démare, who then jumped with less than 200 metres to go, and although both Laporte and Kristoff were on his wheel, none could come around him as he sealed his first stage win at this year's Tour de France.

"It was a fast sprint after a fast stage. I was well-placed thanks to Jacopo Guarnieri and believed I could win. The team was perfect in the way they set me up," Démare said.

Kristoff was disappointed to find he lacked the speed to match Démare and Laporte in the final after his team helped with some of the work to control the day's breakaway.

"It was not so good, I only had one guy in front of me with 2km to go. He was too early in front. But I didn't really have the legs in the final straight either.

"We did a lot of work, but unfortunately at the end I did not really have the fastest legs. That's it. I came from a little too far back in this final stretch."

There were no changes to the overall classification as Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) continues to lead the race by 1:59 ahead of runner-up Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb), 2:31 to his teammate Chris Froome in third, and 2:47 to fourth-placed Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo).

"It definitely wasn’t an easy day," Thomas said. "We were on the pedals all day, and it was a hot day which was tough, and a fast final as well. It was stressful but I’m happy to get through it."

The race heads back into the mountains on stage 19's 200km race from Lourdes to Laruns where the peloton will tackle six ascents that include the Col d'Aspin, Col du Tourmalet and Col d'Aubisque.

"Obviously there is one more big day, and we are expecting a lot of attacks," Thomas said. "There is a lot of climbing, it’s going to be a hard day, but we’ve ridden really well as a team so far so hopefully we can keep that going."

How it unfolded

After a short but brutal 65km stage to the summit of the Col du Portet, the highest point of this year's Tour de France, the peloton no doubt felt a sense of reprieve to race along stage 18's relatively flat sprint-friendly route into Pau.

The 171km race started in Trie-Sur Baise and routed over two category 4 climbs; Cote du Madiran (1.2km at 7%) at the 53.5km mark and Cote d'Anos (2.1km at 4.6%) at the 152km mark, and a mid-stage intermediate sprint in Aurensan.

Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), who leads in the points classification and has mathematically secured a record-equalling sixth green jersey, was initially a favourite for this stage. However, he started the day covered in bandages after crashing at high speeds on the descent off of the Col de Val Louron-Azet during stage 17, and so it was unclear if he would attempt another stage victory.

The day's breakaway set off just a few kilometres into the stage and included Guillaume van Keirsbulck (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Mathew Hayman and Luke Durbridge (Mitchelton-Scott), Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step Floors) and Thomas Boudat (Direct Energie).

Despite Bora-Hansgrohe, Groupama-FDJ and UAE Team Emirates attempting to bring them back, the five riders pushed their advantage out from 20 seconds to roughly one minute.

There was no real contest over the Col du Madiran as Terpstra rolled through to pick up full mountain points just by taking his turn to pull the breakaway along.

Over the top, an attack from the main field from Sep Vanmarcke (EF Education First-Drapac) and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) saw the pair try and bridge to the five-man breakaway, but their efforts were short-lived as the field reeled in the pair.

A crash in the peloton took down stage 17 winner Nairo Quintana (Movistar), but the Colombian continued despite deep scrapes on his left elbow and shoulder.

Up in the breakaway, Van Keirsbulck picked up 20 points at the intermediate sprint in Aurensan, 73km into the race. Over a minute later, John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) sprinted in ahead of the main field.

Groupama-FDJ did much of the pace-setting for their sprinter Arnaud Demare. Teams that also chipped in to manage the gap to the breakaway were Cofidis with Christophe Laporte and UAE Team Emirates with Alexander Kristoff.

The gapped was cut in half, down to 20 seconds, as the breakaway approached the Cote d'Anos. The top of the climb positioned only 20km from the finish line meant that it was inevitable that riders would attack over the top.

Simon Clarke (EF Education First-Drapac) was the first to make a move, followed sharply by Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) and Jack Bauer (Mitchelton-Scott). But it was gruppo compatto as Team Sky pulled the field back together on the descent with 16km to Pau.

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