As it happened – Breakaway wins Tour de France stage 18 as GC battle pauses

A must watch interview from Campenaerts:

One man’s glory at the Tour de France comes with disappointment for all those who finished behind him. Here’s an exhausted and emotional Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) after the finish line, after putting in a valiant effort to come second behind only Campenaerts. After crashing in the neutral zone and being on Tour debut in 2024, he has a lot to be proud of. 

GC standings at the 2024 Tour de France after stage 18

Here’s how things are looking for the overall contenders heading into the final weekend of GC action:

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): 74:45:27

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike): +3:11

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep): +5:09

João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates): +12:57

Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep): +13:24

Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers): +13:30

Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates): +15:41

Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek): +17:51

Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech): +18:15

Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious): +18:35

Campenaerts is also reportedly set to be joining Visma-Lease a Bike which is news that emerged from media in Belgium in June, as he set out his sights on this Tour de France and becoming a domestique in future with the Dutch squad:

Victor Campenaerts to join Visma-Lease a Bike in 2025 with Tour de France in sights

Campenaerts celebrated with his Lotto-Dstny teammates after the podium ceremony. They came here as a team with the big goal of winning one stage. Arnaud De Lie and Maxim Van Gils seemed their best options but after neither of them managed it in the opening 17 stages, Campenaerts has come to Lotto’s rescue.

Make sure to checkout Stephen Farrand’s stage report from all the day’s action alongside our growing gallery from a brutal day in the heat.

Tour de France: Victor Campenaerts surges from three-rider breakaway for stage 18 victory

Here’s what Wout van Aert made of stage 18 after missing out on victory again at the Tour de France:

“I know it’s hard to win from the break for everyone and I have to say when Kwiato went, he was strong and I was kind of on the limit on the top of that KOM but it’s a shame afterwards I had to gamble a bit into the easiest part of the stage,” he told Eurosport as he described where it went wrong and he missed the key move.

“I said to Bart [Lemmen] to jump with the counterattacks and I was sitting a bit in the back. I came down that descent and everything was over.”

Van Aert could still be key in the final two mountain stages as he tries to help Jonas Vingegaard pull back a 3:11 deficit to Tadej Pogačar, but he’ll be looking for some help from his team in the opening phase.

“Still two really big days to come and I hope the guys in the bunch had an easier day than we had so they can at least do the beginning tomorrow.

Campenaerts gave a wonderfully emotional interview post-race, with huge credit to his girlfriend for her support. It’s hard to quantify just how much a Tour win means for the tiniest percentage of pro riders who ever make it there but this perhaps characterises it best:

“As a real professional, you have to ride the Tour de France, finish the Tour de France and winning a stage is everybody’s dream. I’m not a neo-pro, I’ve been dreaming about this for a very, very long time,” said an emotional Campenaerts, who fought back tears in his interview.

“After the Classics, I had a very difficult time. I had a verbal agreement with the team about extending the contract and I got ignored for a long time and it was really difficult. 

“I was on a long altitude camp but my girlfriend was there and she supported me every day highly pregnant and I was struggling to finish my training schedules. But I changed my mind, I have a bright future now still in cycling, I became a father and it was like blue skies, only blue sky.

“I start to feel very good and very good on the bike and coming to this Tour de France with a super motivated team, we have a super good atmosphere in the team. This is just the sum of this atmosphere in the team and we’re going to celebrate tonight.”

The peloton full of the key GC riders has finally rolled across the line 13:40 behind the breakaway. Israel-Premier Tech successfully did their job to defend Derek Gee’s ninth overall but the gap to Steff Cras (TotalEnergies) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) has closed with them now in 12th and 13th just 1:30 away from the top 10.

What a moment for Campenaerts as he Facetimes family to celebrate and let all the emotions flow out. Shows just what it means to win a Tour de France stage and he’s done it at the age of 32 and at the 10th Grand Tour of his career. 

Top 10 on stage 18

Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) – 4:20:20

Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) – st

Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) – st

Toms Skujiņš (Lidl-Trek) – +0:22

Oier Lazkano (Movistar) – st

Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike) – st

Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech) – st

Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) – st

Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) – +0:37

Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) – st

The winning moment for Campenaerts in Barcelonnette. Tour debutant Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies) takes a brilliant second place after crashing in the neutral zone at the beginning of stage 18. It’s a good ride and third place for Kwiatkowski, who led out the sprint from good position but lacked the power to respond to the huge sprint of the Belgian. 

Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) wins stage 18 of the Tour de France!

He kept his sprint all the way to the line and there’s huge emotions at the finish line as he’s straight on the phone with his partner and young son Gustaaf. Was he bluffing in the sprint? He won’t care. He gets a stage win at the Tour to add to one from the Giro in 2021. An absolute master of the breakaway. 

Kwiatkowski moves across the road and the final run for the line begins with 250 to go. Vercher takes off in his wheel as does Campenaerts who explodes with a big sprint. 

Vercher tried to stole a march but the Ineos man has chased him down and the sprint is still to come. 

Final sprint incoming for the trio in front with the Belgian now at the back and not wanting to hit the front. 

1km to go

Campenaerts looks like he is struggling but he may be bluffing. Just 27 seconds to the chasers so they can’t mess around too much. Vercher not doing too much at the back. 

Kwiatkowski is covered in salt showing just how hard a day it has been in the heat. He won a stage in the 2023 Tour, can he repeat the feat in 2024?

Into the final 2.5km now and they are still rolling through at the front but beginning to look around at each other slightly. 

The gap to the five-man chase group has come down slightly to below 40 seconds with Van Aert and the bigger bunch now 45 seconds down. But Campenaerts, Kwiatkowski and Vercher should still be safe to make it home. 

5km to go

The trio in front are through the majority of the uphill roads in the final with a somewhat flat finale to come. Campenaerts is the best on the flat but how much will he have in the tank after a brutal day in the breakaway and the heat?

Kwiatkowski is tightening the shoes and getting ready for the finale now with 6km to go. He and Campenaerts will be the favourite over Vercher in the sprint but the young and relatively unknown Frenchman could surprise them.

With the gap to the peloton around 14 minutes from the bigger chasing group, Cras and Martin could be set to move into the top 10 on GC if it gets any bigger. Israel for Gee and Bahrain for Buitrago should be pacing behind to try and protect their leaders. 

10km to go

Still the trio in front are working well together. They have a healthy lead so can afford to play with the time a little bit.

Madouas has launched out of the big chasing group and is closing in on the five in the middle who are now 54 seconds away from the lead trio. 

15km to go

The trio in front are now onto a long section of uncategorised climbing. Still all to play for in the front group. The chasers are 47 seconds behind and the bigger group 1:12 now. 

Kwiatkowski and Campenaerts getting into what looks to be the decisive move of the stage. The Hindley group is now at 45 seconds, while the bigger Van Aert bunch is still 1:08 behind and failing to get moving. 

Kwiatkowski and Vercher will be counting their blessings to have Campenaerts with them here as one of the best riders on the flat in the world and a real powerhouse at keeping a breakaway ahead. 

20km to go

The Van Aert attack came to nothing and he seems to have got it all wrong after he and Lemmen were doing so well earlier. The group behind simply won’t cooperate and is too big to sort itself out into a chase. 

Van Aert launches a desperate move to try and make it across to his teammate Lemmen and then to the leading group. Is it too late and too big a gap to close down?

The trio in front are doing a tremendous job to keep the pressure on. Hindley and Lazkano’s group are struggling massively to cooperate and they are still 23 seconds down. 

The bigger chase group is struggling to get anything organised with only short attacks being launched and no proper pursuit being mounted. Van Aert and co. are seeing the stage win disappear up the road at this rate. 

Kwiatkowski, Campenaerts and Vercher were getting caught but they have eked out their lead to 20 seconds on the chasing five and 45 on the chasing remnants of the break, who have been rejoined by Johannessen after his crash. 

Here’s a look at Jake Stewart leading the peloton for Israel-Premier Tech’s Derek Gee who sits ninth overall. The gap to the breakaway is at 12:38.

30km to go

There are five riders bridging across to the three leaders on an 11-second gap – Skujins, Lemmen, Hindley, Neilands and Lazkano. Van Aert is in the much bigger group 31 seconds down on the road with the likes of Carapaz and Poels.

It’s Vercher from Total who is with the Ineos and Lotto riders in the front. Kwiatkowski particularly is an excellent descender and is really saving energy thanks to his technique. 

Kwiatkowski was right on the limit as he navigated the technical descent, however, behind him Johannessen went down really hard and is in serious pain. This also held up the chasers and the gap to the lead trio is now out to 21 seconds. He’s thankfully back on the bike.

36km to go

Kwiatkowski is still kicking on but the attacks to catch him are coming thick and fast. Campenaerts is trying to bridge to his wheel with one of the TotalEnergies riders.

With the gap behind going out to 11 minutes, Derek Gee has put his Israel-Premier Tech teammates to work to ensure it doesnt get any closer. 

Kwiatkowski has managed to hold his advantage on the start of the descent and no one behind is willing to commit to the chase. The Pole has seven seconds on those behind. 

Kwiatkowski launches another move in the approach to the KOM sprint. Neilands failed to bring him back and he’s pushing on with the descent to come. Carapaz has sprinted over the top and is chasing down his former teammate. 

40km to go

Bernard and Lazkano have stopped pushing on so hard on the attack with Lemmen just stifling everything for the moment. All back together and approaching the crest of the climb. 

Lazkano counters with all the power and faces he’s got, dropping big power on the climb. Lemmen again stays strong to chase him down and mark out everything. What a day it’s been for the Tour debutant on Visma. If Van Aert wins, he will owe a lot to Lemmen. 

Attack

TotalEnergies launch an attack through Jegat with their multiple riders hoping to repeat Anthony Turgis’ success from stage 9. He’s followed by Bernard, Lemmen and Prodhomme with 2.2km to go to the crest. 

The race has hit the final climb of the day, the Côte des Demoiselles Coiffées (3.5 km at 5.4%) and TotalEnergies are using their numerical advantage to pace back onto the seven that got away. Could someone launch solo on this climb or will it all come down to a tactical finale into Barcelonnette?

Gap between the seven in front and the rest of the chasing breakaway is out to 15 seconds now but Lemmen is sitting on at the back with leader Van Aert still behind. 

Thomas and Aranburu have nipped off the front of the breakaway with the big group splintering all over the place before the final climb. Five riders are bridging across to make it seven in the front – Quinn, Lemmen, Neilands, Johannessen and Zimmermann.

50km to go

The riders set to benefit most on GC in the breakaway are Stef Cras (TotalEnergies) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis). We’ve seen the latter move into the top 10 at the Tour with similar tactics but they will need more than 15 minutes over Santiago Buitrago to overtake him for tenth. The gap is currently just over 10 minutes. 

No stress for race leader Tadej Pogačar today, just a day of getting around safely before the final weekend GC battle gets going tomorrow.

Healy’s aggressive efforts have seen him spat out the back towards the top of the climb with those who were struggling on the lower slopes. This leaves Quinn and Carapaz in the front group without much terrain that particularly suits them. 

Nine-minute gap to the peloton who are now sharing round a family pack of peanut M&M’s if you wanted an idea of the pace they are riding at.

Johannessen wins the KOM sprint and brings the race onto the descent, with only one categorised climb remaining on the route and the undulating drag towards Barcelonnette.

Campenaerts and Van Aert have started to show themselves more towards the top of the climb. They both look strong after hiding in the group when the first few waves of attacks were launched. 

60km to go

Johannessen is emptying himself in the final 2km of the climb but Lemmen is putting any of the riders off from fully committing with his stern defence for Van Aert. 

Lemmen is doing a fantastic job for Van Aert as he marshals the moves for his leader. Quinn, Kwiatkowski have both tried in the final 3.5km of the climb but with no success. 

Riders are going out the back under the pressure of all the attacking – Sobrero, Armirail, Godon and Juul-Jensen all fading and finished. 

Still no joy for EF who are trying everything to secure back-to-back breakaway success. Johannessen tried to get Uno-X into a great spot off the front but he was similarly chased back quickly.

Healy goes again! Lemmen chases him once more with Thomas doing so much work to chase things down for Kwiatkowski.

Lazkano is bridging to the American and towing the whole breakaway with him. Still no significant separations in the breakaway. 

Sean Quinn is the next to go for EF, with the Stars and Stripes USA champion’s jersey fully on display.

Things all come together but the pace is still right up there in the break. 5.4km to go until the crest.

Thomas and Van den Broek have been able to bridge across with Healy letting the pressure off for a moment. Bernard is trying to make sure Trek are represented.

65km to go

It’s Sobrero and Neilands who have marked out Healy, with Lemmen also getting into the quartet. Lots of hesitation behind but also lots of metres left to climb.

Attack

Ben Healy goes! The Irishman loves a long-range move and he is getting things started with 6.8km left to climb here. Rider from Red Bull and Israel-Premier Tech chasing him.

Almost on cue, Neilands threatens to accelerate and Hindley is right onto his back wheel and through to the front with fellow pure climber Meintjes. 

Still fully intact with 36 riders in this breakaway. Will be very surprised if that stays the same by the time this climb is finished. 

70km to go

The break has just finished navigating a quite stunning descent and it’s now almost time for the 7.1km Côte de Saint-Apollinaire.

It is very hot on stage 18. Tough conditions out there for all those in the break.

80km to go

Everyone is content with the status quo in both the breakaway and the peloton for now, but the hardest climb of the day is approaching – the Côte de Saint-Apollinaire (7.1 km at 5.6%). It crests 58km from the line but will be the best chance for the likes of Hindley, Carapaz, Poels, Johannessen and Lazkano to get rid of the faster riders like Van Aert, Matthews, Healy and Aranburu. 

Lazkano again takes the maximum KOM points ahead of Carapaz with only them battling for it. They are still a long way from taking it off Pogačar.

UAE Team Emirates holding front position in the peloton with Ineos Grenadiers close behind. It’s looking unlikely that we will see GC action as we did yesterday without any of the climbs looking hard enough – all eyes will be on the Col de Vars, Cime de la Bonette and Isola 2000 tomorrow. 

87km to go

The break is onto the lower slopes of the Colde Manse now – it’s 5.1km in length but only averages a gradient of 3.6%.

Speeds were upped after the IS and through the feed zone but there’s no splits yet. Breakaway closing in on the next climb now where action could restart properly.

Intermediate sprint

Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) takes the top spot over the intermediate sprint and the…