Tour de France stage 18 Live - Big breakaway to play out final on punchy terrain

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 prize money with it in Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur. Biniam Girmay still seems to have that competition wrapped up now after some late drama from when he crashed on stage 16.

100km to go

We're into a calm moment in the race for now but things are due to ignite fully again on the next climb - the Col de Manse (5.2 km at 3.7%) - which the break will hit in around 15km time. 

Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) lead the breakaway on stage 18 of the Tour de France. Advantage is out to near five minutes.

Race radio from Visma is telling Lemmen and Van Aert to stay towards the front with the games beginning in the break. With so many riders in there, many will be trying to skip a turn and save their energy. The fight for the break may be over but the fight for the stage win will be incredibly tactical in the final 107km. 

110km to go

The breakaway has now made the turn after heading north out of Gap, with the rest of the stage travelling southeast towards Barcelonnette.

Vingegaard is getting a shoe change at the back of the peloton but the pace has really gone out behind. Gap to the leaders now at 4:10.

That mechanical, and probably the day in the break yesterday, has done for Oscar Onley, who after having to change his wheel with one from neutral service, is now in now man's land 2:25 from the breakaway. He'll soon be back in the peloton leaving 36 in front and teammate Frank van den Broek on his own.

120km to go

Van Aert leads the breakway down a descent on some more wonderful roads en route to Barcelonnette.

UAE Team Emirates have taken over on the front of the peloton but there is no urgency or chase from them with the deficit to the break growing to 3:45.

The breakaway is onto the second categorised climb of the day - the Côte de Corps (2.1km at 7.2%) and Lazkano and Carapaz are fighting out the KOM sprint. The Spanish rider took the spoils at the crest, with them starting on 35 and 34 points at the start of the day respectively. 

Pogačar leads the KOM classification on 77 points.  

Van Aert is looking good as he takes a pull on the front. Reminder that if he is to win today, it will be his first win at the Tour de France, amazingly, since stage 20 of the 2022 race when he won the ITT into Rocamadour.

Stunning skill from Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) to keep this one up but I'm sure he'll be trying his best not to do any more stoppies now that he's made it into the break of the day. 

130km to go

Unfortunate wheel change for Oscar Onley who was doing well to get in the break for the second day in a row. The front of the break are pulling through and off but hopefully he can make up the 40-second deficit to get back in the move.

Quite stunning views on the road today.

Composition of the confirmed 37 breakaway riders who now have a 2:58 lead:
Four riders:
TotalEnergies - Jegat, Vercher, Burgaudeau and Cras
Three riders:
EF Education-EasyPost - Carapaz, Quinn and Healy
Movistar - Lazkano, Aranburu and Mühlberger
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale - Godon, Armirail and Prodhomme
Two riders:
Visma-Lease a Bike - Van Aert and Lemmen
Ineos Grenadiers - Thomas and Kwiatkowski
Jayco-AlUla - Juul-Jensen and Matthews
Lidl-Trek - Bernard and Skujiņš
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe - Hindley and Sobrero
Israel-Premier Tech - Neilands and Houle
Intermarché-Wanty - Meintjes and Zimmermann
DSM-Firmenich PostNL - Onley and Van den Broek
Groupama-FDJ - Madouas and Pacher
Arkéa-B&B Hotels - Raul García Pierna and Clément Champoussin
One rider:
Lotto Dstny - Victor Campenaerts
Cofidis - Guillaume Martin
Uno-X Mobility - Tobias Halland Johannessen
Bahrain-Victorious - Wout Poels

140km to go

Carapaz, Hindley and Lazkano had a gap on the descent with the larger 34-man group chasing to get back on. The peloton does seem to have finally stopped chasing with the gap now at 1:40. Break of the day formed.

There's 34 riders currently in this break and most of the teams are represented. It did seem to be done as the first climb is completed but Uno-X are trying to launch more moves through Magnus Cort. He was marked by a UAE and a Visma rider with the gap still at 40 seconds.

Dorion Godon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) seem to be the last riders to try and make the junction across to the front. They are at 20 seconds from the leaders, with the peloton calming down and now approaching a one-minute deficit. 

It's going to be a brutal day at the back of the peloton. Those struggling will be praying the breakaway gets away soon and this furious attacking stops. 

150km to go

Carapaz is clearly still in tremendous shape even after his huge effort yesterday. He's on the front helping the likes of Thomas and Van Aert to try and eke out the breakaway's advantage which currently sits at 24 seconds. 

Carapaz and Lazkano make it across but this big bridging behind has almost brought things fully back together.

Lazkano and Carapaz are desperately launching out of the peloton to try and bridge what is for the moment a 20-second gap to the leaders. Those in front are hitting the categorised climb proper but they've already been travelling uphill for some four kilometres. 

That latest round has found some separation with a large group moving away. Just as it seemed to calm, more riders realised this could be the break going away for the day. Van Aert, Thomas, Healy and Hindley all up there with a full group to be confirmed momentarilly. 

Back together at the front of the peloton with the next round of moves incoming. Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) is looking active despite his efforts in yesterday's break. 

155km to go

Küng, Hindley, Powless, Lazkano and Lemmen are in the current small group that has pulled off the front. Those behind are still unhappy so they are exploding out of the peloton in pursuit.

Bike change for Luke Durbridge (Jayco AlUla) at the back of the pack.

Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos Grenadiers) is leading a huge group that has a small gap on the chasing peloton. More attacks are certain to fly with around 5km of uphill roads to contend with now. Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) just closed down the small gap so Pogačar's men clearly weren't happy with the composition. 

Stuyven caught and it's all back together at the front of the peloton. Tratnik tries to kick on as the race reaches the foot of the climb and the game is restarting again. 

Stuyven is still 11 seconds in front with the action relatively calming down for a moment. All eyes will be on the first climb of the day to form the break. 

Fast and furious racing on stage 18 of the Tour de France.

160km to go

DSM-Firmenich PostNL have two riders on the front after launching a small move which Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) tried to follow alongside Bart Lemmen.

TotalEnergies respond with their own move through Sandy Dujardin.

There's scorching heat on stage 18 of the Tour de France, with the temperature in the Alps up in the 30s. Cooling will be a key factor today.

Van der Poel has just bridged across to a six-man move on his own and he's looking strong. Stuyven is still 27 seconds ahead pushing on with the hope of being joined by strong riders from behind. 

It was Clément Russo (Groupama-FDJ) who was chasing but he stopped his effort and let Stuyven get 35 seconds up the road. Once the Frenchman was back in, EF launched a new move to try and bridge across with Carapaz and Costa.

Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) now sets off on the front but he's all alone for now. A Groupam-FDJ rider is trying to chase but it seems as though the main peloton is waiting now for the first categorised climb of the day - the Col de Festre (3.9km at 6.3%) - which starts in around 10km time.

170km to go

Visma and UAE are clearly both interested in getting someone up the road for their leaders. Van der Poel is showing his strength and intent with the rainbow jersey present in each of the splits for the moment. 

A look inside the strung out peloton on stage 18 as the furious racing goes past beautiful scenery heading away from Gap. 

Speeds up at 67kph in this thrilling start. No one is quite willing to fully commit knowing they will be chased down furiously. Arkéa-B&B Hotels kick things off again with a a big acceleration but Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe are right on them, trying to get Hindley away in a move.

Van der Poel, Gibbons, Powless and Quinn are among those in the next split off the front. But no group is getting any advantage so it could take ages before we have any sort of breakaway. 

175km to go

Küng tries to go again as a move from Ryan Gibbons (Lidl-Trek) forms the counter. So many attacks are coming but there is a lot of looking around with the hardest terrain to come.

All smiles for Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and Vingegaard at the start of the days stage. 

Attackers are caught and the strung out bunch prepares to go again.

Küng and Neilands have been joined by 3 others who have chased well. Jan Tratnik is very active showing Visma-Lease a Bike's ambitions today. 

11 of the 22 teams at the Tour de France in 2024 have won a stage so far so half of those trying to get in know this could be their final chance. The breakaway formation will be vital. Neilands goes again with Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) on his wheel. 

Attacks coming from everywhere on the road behind. Small groups are splintering with the nearly whole peloton desperate to be involved. There's a massive group on the front with a smaller bunch following closely and led by Van Aert.

World Champion Van der Poel was right toward the front and he's responded to the first attack from the day from Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech). Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) is similarly interested and this is going to be breathless.

179.5km to go

Flag dropped by TDF director Christian Prudhomme and it's time to go racing on stage 18. We had a small delay at kilometre zero with some riders off the back but it's on now.

Today will be the final chance for 90% of the peloton in the last likely breakaway chance, with the three alpine stages on Friday, Saturday and Sunday probably going to be played out between Pogačar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel.

Here's the race leader Pogačar at the start in Gap, ready for another day of battle in the hills.

Stage start

C'est Parti! Riders are gone from the unofficial start in Gap and will now complete the départ fictif before racing proper gets underway in 5.1km.

A reminder that we will be heading uphill right from the start today so the attacks should come thick and fast. It's another hot day as the Tour heads towards the Côte d'Azur. There were ice vests on for most of the riders at the start.

Big day for Groupama-FDJ on stage 18, with the French side yet to really get anything out of the race. They'll be back in the break with the likes of Gaudu, Madouas and Gregoire.

15 minutes from the neutralised start in Gap now.

Here's the World Champion Mathieu van der Poel at the start of stage 18 in Gap. He's gone for the full white skinsuit so expect him to be firing on all cylinders in his final chance to win from a breakaway at the Tour.

A look into EF Education-EasyPost's celebrations last night. A first win at the Tour for Carapaz, a Grand Tour stage win completed and EF's first win at the 2024 Tour after perhaps being the most attacking throughout the first 17 stages. Today could be another great chance for them through Carapaz again, Ben Healy or Neilson Powless:

'One card to play and we played an ace' – Capturing Carapaz's Tour de France stage 17 win

Vingegaard was aided by satellite riders from Visma-Lease a Bike on yesterday's stage after they rode aggressively in the opening to the stage. With a less difficult finish, it's unlikely Pogačar will attack, however, it was unlikely he would attack yesterday and he did. Visma will likely try to get riders up the road again today, with Wout van Aert also being an option for the stage win.

Aggressive Visma-Lease a Bike opt for breaks not late attacks on Tour de France mountain stage

Here's how the GC standings look heading into stage 18:

Riders are at the sign-on and team presentation in Gap with just over an hour until things kick off.

Here's the map of today's stage from Gap to Barcelonnette in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department:

Evenepoel's strong move yesterday also moved him within two minutes of Vingegaard in second. Could that be a battle we see play out at the weekend?

'I felt Vingegaard was a bit on the limit' – Remco Evenepoel strikes blow in Alps as Tour de France enters final phase

Despite Pogačar's unplanned attack on stage 17, perhaps the biggest news in recent days has been the change in atmosphere around the yellow jersey holder. Read how one of our excellent team on the ground, Barry Ryan, has seen the narratives around carbon monoxide rebreathers, 'Mou' and his instinctive attacking here:

'It's just a pretty simple test' – Tour de France leader Tadej Pogačar confirms use of carbon monoxide rebreather

We're around an hour and a half away from the neutralised roll out in Gap, before racing proper gets underway with the flag drop at 13:20 CEST.

Even with a breakaway some seven minutes up the road, race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) simply couldn't help himself with another attack near the crest of the Col du Noyer. He gained two seconds on Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), while Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) looked strong up the final two climbs to gain 10 and 12 seconds on his rivals.

Pogačar and Evenepoel attack Vingegaard to land psychological blow before Tour de France showdown in the Alps

The racing gets underway from Gap on today's stage, as it has done for many years at the Tour. With undulating roads right from start to finish taking in over 3000m of elevation gain, expect more all-out racing as was the case on stage 17. 

Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) was the victor after more than 50 riders got up the road in the final 60km. Catch up with how he did it here:

Tour de France: Richard Carapaz climbs to stage 17 solo victory as Pogačar fortifies lead

Stage 18 presents another and perhaps the final chance for a strong breakaway to have its day, such is the difficulty of Friday and Saturday's mountain tests and the final time trial into Nice which will surely be won by one of the GC favourites.

It's billed as a "hilly" stage by Le Tour but it actually has more elevation than yesterday's mountain stage to SuperDévoluy so expect another furious fight to get into any moves and it should be another thriller. Here's the profile of the 179.5km stage:

Bonjour and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 18 of the 2024 Tour de France!