Stage 18: Gap to Barcelonnette – 179.5 km
Date: Thursday July 18, 2024
Streaming: 🇺🇸 Peacock/🇨🇦 FloBikes/🇬🇧 Discovery+/ITV/🇪🇺 Eurosport/🇦🇺 SBS
Estimated finish time: 🇺🇸🇨🇦 11:43 am EDT/🇬🇧 4:43 pm BST/🇪🇺 5:43 pm CEST/🇦🇺 1:43 am AEST
Stage type: Hilly
Summary: Any of the breakaway specialists who missed out on stage 17 will be happy to see that the stage 18 profile again favors their skillset. It’s a stage that is geared a bit more to the Ardennes Classics types and without any huge climbs near the finish, it could come down to a reduced sprint too.
Fantasy favorites: The pack finally let the breakaway have one on Wednesday. Will they do it again on Thursday? Whether it's from a reduced bunch or from the break, Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel both seem like good picks to contend for the win. Other versatile riders like Magnus Cort, Michael Matthews, and Christophe Laporte are outsiders, while Biniam Girmay and Arnaud De Lie are pretty unlikely to be there in the end but they can't be completely counted out. It's also possible that someone manages to stick a solo move; look for Matej Mohorič, Tobias Halland Johannessen, Oier Lazkano, Alex Aranburu, and Ben Healy to try to their luck that way.
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