Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) won Thursday’s stage 18 of the Tour de France after a long day in the breakaway. The 32-year-old Belgian was part of a huge group that got clear early on in the lumpy stage from Gap to Barcelonnette, and he ultimately joined Michael Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) in leaving the rest of the break behind to contest the stage win.
Campenaerts proved fastest in the three-rider sprint, taking a convincing win as Vercher settled for second with Kwiatkowski in third.
Race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) finished safely with the rest of the peloton nearly 14 minutes later.
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How it unfolded
- As was to be expected on a stage with such a breakaway-friendly profile, the battle to form the break was fierce, with numerous attacks and regroupings immediately after the flag dropped. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) surged again and again with the early attackers, but he ultimately missed the move that would get clear about 30 km into the stage.
- That move was a big one, consisting of nearly 40 riders. In addition to the trio that would eventually sprint for the win, the group included the likes of Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla), Richard Carapaz and Ben Healy of EF Education-EasyPost, Tom Skujiņš (Lidl-Trek), and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers). Once the gap had gone out over 30 seconds, those back in the bunch decided to knock off the pace, allowing the break’s advantage to grow rapidly.
- With so many riders in the break, cohesion could only last for so long. Healy attacked multiple times on the Côte de Saint-Apollinaire, but he was unable to find much daylight. It was the day’s final climb, the Côte des Demoiselles Coiffées, that would prove decisive. A flurry of attacks whittled away at the break before Kwiatkowski managed to surge clear near the top. Campenaerts and Vercher set off in pursuit of the former world champion and ultimately bridged up to him.
- Skujiņš and Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike) were in a five-rider group trying to chase down the three leaders, but the trio out front collaborated well as the kilometers ticked down, and although they did not have a big gap, they maintained it all the way to Barcelonnette, where it became clear that they would contest the win in a sprint.
- Kwiatkowski led the way into the final few hundred meters with Vercher on his wheel and Campenaerts bringing up the rear, with the Belgian at least looking like he was tired after a long day. With 150 meters to go, Campenaerts launched from the back, exploding up the road on the left side of the other two riders. Neither one came particularly close to matching the speed of Campenaerts, who threw both hands in the air at the line to celebrate his maiden Tour stage victory.
As a real professional, you have to ride the Tour de France, finish the Tour de France, and winning a stage in the Tour de France is everybody’s dream. I’m not a neo-pro, I’ve been dreaming about this for a very, very long time.
—Victor Campenaerts after his victory
Brief analysis
- Stage 18 was a great example of just how unpredictable breakaway stages can be. World champion – and Olympic favorite – Mathieu van der Poel tried again and again to make the break only to miss out. The move that did go included Van Aert and Matthews, and with a flat finish on tap, they looked to be in pole position to win, but it was instead a trio of attackers out of the break that went the distance. Even then, Kwiatkowski was the more obvious favorite in a sprint.
- As he said in his post-race interview, Campenaerts made it seem as if he was flagging as the day wore on, giving himself some cover for missing pulls. Then, when it mattered most, he showed off just how much he still had in the tank, dominating the final sprint.
- He also explained that he had been targeting this stage “since December” and his preparation included many weeks at altitude, a sign of just how much goes into hunting a victory on a single day in July at the world’s biggest race.
- Unlike on stage 17, Pogačar and the GC riders actually took it relatively easy once the break was gone, giving them at least a brief respite before they head into the mountains.
Up next
The highest climb of the 2024 Tour de France awaits on a day that will soar to serious elevation in the Alps. A short but brutal stage 19 will take the peloton 144.6 km from Embrun to Isola 2000, and along the way, riders will tackle the HC Col de Vars and the HC Cime de la Bonette before the Cat. 1 final climb. The Cime de la Bonette ascends to a whopping 2,802 meters (9,193 ft) above sea level, making the summit the highest point reached in this Tour. At these altitudes, GC action is guaranteed.
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