Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) won stage 18 of the Tour de France from Gap to Barcelonnette after another battle for the breakaway and another intense battle for the stage victory.
The Belgian rider got away with Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) and Tour debutant Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) in the final 35km of the stage.
They worked well together to hold off the chasers and then sprinted for the stage victory. Kwiatkowski was forced to lead out the sprint and Campenaerts kicked hard to hit the front and win. Vercher was second, with Kwiatkowski third.
After becoming a father just a few weeks, Campenaerts was in tears as he savoured his first-ever Tour stage victory.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and the other GC contenders let the break go clear early in the stage, preferring to save their energy for the final mountain stage of this year’s Tour de France that began on Friday.
Toms Skujiņš (Lidl-Trek) led home a chase group of five riders at 22 seconds to take fourth place, with Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) winning the sprint for ninth place at 37 seconds after again missing out on victory.
Pogačar and the peloton eventually finished 13:40 down on Campenaerts.
The Belgian made a video call to his partner just a few seconds after crossing the finish line. He has held the Hour Record on the track and won other races but a Tour de France stage was missing from his palmares.
“As a real professional, you have to ride the Tour de France and finish the Tour de France. 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 long time,” an emotional Campenaerts said.
“After the Classics, I had a very difficult time. I had a verbal agreement with the team about extending the contract but I got ignored for a long time and it was very difficult.
"My girlfriend is incredible, she's always there for me. We went nine weeks on an altitude camp, she was highly pregnant. She gave birth to our son at the bottom of the climb in Granada. She is the hero in this story, and I'm so grateful that she made this possible, that the team made it possible, that I had a super long altitude camp to prepare for this Tour de France.
“I was struggling to finish my training schedules but then I changed my mind. I still have a bright future in cycling, I became a father and it was like blue skies, only, blue skies and I started to feel very good on the bike.
“I came to this Tour de France with a super motivated team, we have a super good atmosphere in the team. And this is just the result of this atmosphere in the team. We're gonna celebrate tonight," he continued.
“Because of the birth of my son, I didn't do any preparation race leading into the Tour de France but they had faith that I’d be in a good shape. I will be leaving the team, but I'm so happy that we can finish off with maybe the highlight of my career.”
Campenaerts raced smart in the breakaway.
“It's a victory of experience, you had to be the smartest out there. I think I played it very smart,” he said.
“I slipped in the breakaway with only one bullet. I maybe played it a bit dirty by trying to show everybody that I was hurting a lot so I didn't have to do too many pulls. I followed the moves. We had a great attack going in the final and we collaborated very well together, until the last kilometre.
“It’s indescribable. There are still three hard days to come but I'm looking forward so much to going home to my girlfriend and my son.”
How it unfolded
With the final mountain stages expected to see a GC battle, stage 18 from Gap to Barcelonnette was a perfect chance for a breakaway. The best baroudeur, the strongest domestiques and anyone with any energy left after so much intensity at the Tour, all warmed up for the stage and prepared for another day of fast racing.
Only 11 of the 22 teams at the Tour de France have so far won a stage, so half of the peloton was under intense pressure to secure a result, every other team wanted another win.
When the stage began on the fast climb out of Gap, World Champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) responded to the first attack from Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech), indicating the racing vibe of the day.
For 30km the attacks came thick and fast as riders tried to spark or join the right move. It was breathtaking racing in the Alpine valley northwards and then over the early Col du Festre climb.
A huge group of 37 riders eventually got away and formed the attack of the day after the peloton called a truce and eased up. In there were Bart Lemmen and Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Christopher Jull-Jensen and Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla), Kwiatkowski and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Julien Bernard and Toms Skujins (Lidl-Trek), a trio from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale - Bruno Armirail, Nicolas Prodhomme, Dorian Godon, a trio from EF Education - Richard Carapaz, Ben Healy, Sean Quinn, Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious), Jay Hindley and Matteo Sobrero (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Valentin Madouas and Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny), Hugo Houle and Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech), Guillaume Martin and Simon Geschke (Cofidis), a trio from Movistar - Alex Aranburu, Oier Lazkano, Gregor Mühlberger, Clément Champoussin and Raul Garcia (Arkea-B&B), Louis Meintjes and Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché-Wanty), Oscar Onley and Frank van den Broek (Dsm-Firmenich PostNL), Tobais Johannessen (Uno-X), and four riders from TotalEnergies - Steff Cras, Mathieu Burgaudeau, Jordan Jegat and Vercher.
They dived down the descent and pushed on as the gap reached 2 minutes and then gradually increased more and more.
Onley suddenly needed a wheel change and then struggled to get back into the attack as the pace hurt on the Côte de Corpe climb after 55km. It was a hugely disappointing moment for the Scottish climber.
Up front, Lazkano and Carapaz battled for the mountain points on the climbs but were only fifth and sixth in the special classification dominated by Pogačar.
Many riders in the attack were riding carefully and cautiously, trying to hide on the wheel and save energy for later. Yet the 36 pushed on ahead, with the peloton slowly drifting backwards at a controlled pace. Matthews won the intermediate sprint in Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur after 95km and the gap reached 6:00. The attackers would fight for the stage win.
The so-called ‘early final’ of the stage began on the 7.1km Côte de Saint-Apollinaire climb, with 60 km to race.
Healy launched the first attack and tried several surges, but each time he was chased down. Lemmen did a fantastic job chasing for Van Aert and Thomas played a similar role for Kwiatkowski. Hindley and Neilands were also vigilant on the climbs, as some riders began to suffer.
Quinn tried to go clear, showing off his USA champion's jersey but he was also chased down. Campenaerts and Van Aert were also up front and trying to sniff out the right split in the big group. It was a tense and tactical affair.
Johannessen led the attackers over the Côte de Saint-Apollinaire after 120 km but Healy was dropped after his big efforts. It was a hard day out in temperatures of 34C+.
Behind Pogačar was protected and served by his UAE Team Emirates, the gap to the peloton reaching 9:00 at the top of the Côte de Saint-Apollinaire. A bag of peanut M&M's was passed around the peloton, such was the relaxed atmosphere.
More attacks came at the head of the race on the Côte des Demoiselles Coiffées (3.5 km at 5.4%), the final categorised climb of the day. Kwiatkowski was aggressive, as were TotalEnergies and stage 17 winner Carapaz.
Kwiatkowski attacked on the Côte des Demoiselles Coiffées and over the top of the climb, His double move worked and he got a gap. Johannessen crashed at speed on the descent to the shores of Lac de Serre-Ponçon with 34 km to go and that helped open the gap. Only Campenaerts and Vercher got across to him and they dived down the descent and climbed once again.
With 20km to race, Skujins, Lemmen, Hindley, Neilands and Lazkano were in a desperate chase group, with Van Aert in the much bigger group with Carapaz, 30 seconds behind. Van Aert tried a desperate chase but he had again missed the move of the day.
The peloton slipped to 13:00 behind, with Jake Stewart leading the peloton for Israel-Premier Tech teammate Derek Gee who’s ninth place in GC was suddenly under threat from Crass.
At the head of the race, Kwiatkowski, Campenaerts and Vercher drove on, with the Belgian using his time trial skills to drive the trio along. It was a fight for every second as the road to Barcelonnette began to climb gradually.
The trio pushed their lead out to 50 seconds with 10km to go, as the chasers melted and faded on the valley road behind. Madouas tried a late chase up to the Hindley group but he had also missed the winning move.
Kwiatkowski, Campenaerts and Vercher knew they would fight for the stag victory but worked until the final kilometre to ensure they stayed away.
Vercher tried a surge with 800 metres to go but soon got on Kwiatkowski’s wheel, who was forced or opted to lead out the sprint through the final curves.
Campenaerts waited in third place for the finish to near and then launched a final surge. He was simply too fast and too powerful for Kwiatkowski and Vercher, winning by several bike lengths.
Results
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