Stage 18 report ...
Michal Kwiatkoski and Richard Carapaz rescued an otherwise abysmal Tour de France for Team Ineos. Jeremy Whittle was there ...
The main jersey-wearers after stage 18
- Yellow: Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma)
- Green: Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick-Step)
- White: Tadej Pogacar (Team Emirates)
- Polka-dot: Richard Carapaz (ineos-Grenadiers)
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Wout van Aert finishes third. He neutralises the bonus seconds to lead the yellow jersey group home.
Michal Kwiatkoswki wins stage 18!
His arm over the shoulder of his team-mate Richard Carapaz, perennial team Team Ineos dogsbody Michal Kwiatkowski rolls over the line to win the stage by inches ... I think. It’s pretty tight!!!
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500m to go: They seem to have agreed that Kwiatkowski is going to take the stage win, his first in a Grand Tour.
1km to go: Or that Carapaz has agreed to give Kwiatkowski the stage win, but does the dirty on him in the closing metres prompting a fist-fight on the team bus afterwards.
3km to go: I’m hoping Kwiatkowski and Carapaz cross the line together, hand in hand ... then get disqualified and thrown off the race because there’s some arcane Tour de France rule that forbids such romantic, overly sentimental tomfoolery.
4km to go: Kwiatkowski is in front with Carapaz on his wheel, the yellow jersey group 3min 23sec behind.
6km to go: Kwiatkowski and Carapaz are on the descent to the line and have had their discussion about how best to end the stage in a way that suits them both best.
9km to go: Caruso, Bilbao and Mikel Landa are leading the yellow jersey group as they approach the top of the final uncategorised climb. That’s pretty much that as far as this year’s Tour de France is concerned, barring an accident. Tomorrow’s stage is on the flat and Saturday’s is a time-trial. Sunday’s is the traditional procession into Paris.
10km to go: Richie Porte rejoins the yellow jersey group, which catches Marc Hirschi. That’s a great effort from Porte.
11km to go: With so much going on behind them, it’s easy to forget that Carapaz and Kwiatkowski remain out in front with about a kilometre of the final uncategorised climb to go and then it’s downhill all the way.
12km to go: Richie Porte is just 20 seconds behind the yellow jersey group, having got in a little group with Wout van Aert and Tom Dumoulin, who are trying to get back to their leader, Primoz Roglic.
13km to go: Richie Porte is closing in on the yellow jersey group following his mishap at the top of the last climb. They’ve another four or five-kilometre uncategorised climb to go before their descent to the finish line.
15km to go: Enric Mas and Mikel Landa are both likely to move up the rankings today. The way things are going, they could both leapfrog Rigoberto Uran, Adam Yates and Richie Porte to go fourth and fifth.
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17km to go: Already assured of the King of the Mountains jersey, Richard Carapaz has a decision to make. Does he let Michal Kwiatkowski win the stage? Or does he try to give him the slip before getting into a sprint which Kwiatkowski will almost certainly win? Or will they be given orders from David Brailsford to share the spoils?
22km to go: Meanwhile at the front of the race, Carapaz and Kwiatkowski continue their descent, with a lead of 1min 41sec over Pello Bilbao. Marc Hirschi is 3min 22sec behind the stage leaders.
24km to go: Mikel Landa, Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic, Miguel Angel Lopez, Sepp Kuss and Enric Mas are in a little group of their own trying to keep the unfortunate Richie Porte from rejoining them.
25km to go: Porte gets a replacement bike and sets off having lost 30 seconds. Primoz Roglic leads the yellow jersey group, which is now comprised of the top five riders on General Classification.
27km to go: Richie Porte punctures on the gravel and get a replacement wheel from the neutral service car because he’s using discs. He pedals on with a flat front wheel, his team car way back. They’ve just been alerted to his plight.
29km to go: Landa and Caruso are caught by the yellow jersey group as Tadej Pogacar tries to snaffle enough points to keep the King of the Mountains jersey. He needed to be fifth over the line, but was sixth. Karapaz has the jersey with 76 points to Pogacar’s 74.
31km to go: Richard Carapaz crests the Montee du Plateau des Glieres and moves into the virtual polka-dot jersey. Our two leaders now have a stretch of more than a kilometre of gravel road to contend with. Mikel Landa is on the chase but over a kilometre behind them and has just joined his team-mate Damiano Caruso.
31km to go: Alejandro Valverde is dropped has been dropped by the yellow jersey group.
32km to go: Mikel Landa is being reeled in by the yellow jersey group, while Adam Yates has been dropped.
33km to go: Michal Kwiatkoski and Richard Carapaz continue to make their way up the climb. They’re sharing the work and have a lead of 1min 43sec over Marc Hirschi. One of these Ineos Grenadiers riders looks certain to win this stage, but who?
Remarkably, or not when you consider who he rides for and what his job is, Kwiatkowski has never won a Grand Tour stage. He deserves one. On the other hand, last year’s Giro winner Karapaz has had two near misses in the past two stages.
33km to go: Rigoberto Uran loses touch with the yellow jersey group, which has also shed Warren Barguil. Wout van Aert is making the pace for Jumbo-Visma at the front of the yellow jersey group.
34km to go: Kwiatkowski and Karapaz have given Pello Bilbao the slip and the two Ineos Grenadier riders are now on their own at the front.
35km to go: Led by Jumbo-Visma, the yellow jersey group hits the lower slopes of the day’s final climb. Possibly feeling guilty because he didn’t have the energy to launch himself from the platform his Bahrain-McLaren team built for him yesterday, Mikel Landa attacks off the yellow jersey group with Wout Poels alongside him. He has Damiano Caruso and Pello Bilbao up the road.
37km to go: The climb begins. Kwiatkowski is in front, his teammate Carapaz next and Pello Bilbao on third wheel.
39km to go: Over 10 kilometres whizz by as the descent continues. Next up is the Hors Categorie Montee du Plateau des Glieres, which is 1,390m in height, six kilometres in length with an average gradient of a calf-burning 11.2%.
50km to go: The riders continue their 20-kilometre descent of the Col des Aravis. Will Marc Hirschi be able to reattach himself to the lead trio?
54km to go: Led by Thomas de Gendt, the chase group crests the Col des Aravis 4min 33sec behind the leaders.
57km to go: Michal Kwiatkoski (Ineos Grenadiers), Richard Karapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain McLaren) continue their ascent to Col des Aravis.
Kwiatkowski moves aside to let Karapaz collect another 10 King of the Mountains points. Karapaz now has 52, which puts him fourth in the category ... I think. There aren’t many left up for grabs. Marc Hirschi is fourth over, a minute behind.
Col des Aravis: The current climb is 1,487m in height, boasts a 7% gradient and is 6.7km long. The gruppetto, for anyone who is wondering, is 17 minutes back.
61km to go: The field, with the exception of the green jersey gruppetto, are on the fourth categorised climb of the day.
For the third day in a row, Richard Carapaz is at the sharp end of proceedings and I think I might cry if he doesn’t get a stage win today. Marc Hirschi, who already has a stage win under his belt in this Tour, is 30 seconds back after his crash.
67km to go: The gap from the three stage leaders to the yellow jersey group is 6min 03sec, while Marc Hirschi is making little or no headway in his efforts to rejoin the trio in front. Your leaders: Kwiatkowski, Karapaz and Bilbao.
76km to go: Hirschi, back on his bike and looking a little battered and bruised, continues his descent at breakneck speed as he tries to close the 31-second gap between himself and the three men ahead of him on the road.
77km to go: A crash!!! Marc Hirschi overcooks a bend on the descent and skids off the road on the descent.
An email: “Just experienced my first proper Tour stage roadside on the Cormet de Roseland,” writes Andrew Parker. “A great experience it was, though I did wonder why there were five helicopters flying one behind the other following the peloton?
“And they don’t half throw out a lot of free tat at you (photo attached showing a small sample) from the Caravan, which seems to slightly contradict their message of respect for the environment.
“Saying that I got some lovely biscuits with so much butter in they just crumble in your mouth. Yum. I’ll be back!”
84km to go: Our lead quintet is now a quartet, having dropped Nicolas Edet. Marc Hirschi almost gets caught out by Richard Carapaz at a roundabout on the approach to the top but beats the Ecuadorian to take maximum King of the Mountain points.
An explanation: What happened there, Aimee, is that Coquard was struggling badly, so his team-mate Jens Debusschere dropped back to help him. At the bottom of the final climb, Debusschere was exhausted, so told Coquard to carry on without him. Coquard finished just inside the time limit, but Debusschere didn’t and was somewhat heartlessly kicked off the race.
“On the Col de Madeleine I was pretty comfortable in the group with Sam Bennett, but Bryan [Coquard] had a hard time and I waited for him,” said Debusschere. “We can’t do much here without him, because what’s a lead-out without a sprinter?”
“In the valley, I did everything I could to bring him closer. But at the foot of the final climb, I was finished. Then he left with my approval. It was over.”
Au bout de l’effort.
— Le Coq 🐔 (@bryancoquard) September 16, 2020
Un seul mot,
Merci @jensdebus 🙏😘
📸Agence Zoom
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.@bbhotels_vc @LeTour #meninglaz pic.twitter.com/3K7Ft8ULxN
An email: “I’m wondering about the Stage 17 timecut,” writes Aimee Germain. “Bryan Coquard was the last rider on the road, and there was a lengthy, painful shot of him struggling up the mountain, with Simon Gerrans commentating at length how it was so sad that Coquard was fighting but had missed the time cut and that his Tour would be over.
“But now he’s still in the race today! What’s going on? They don’t usually extend a time cut just for one rider. They just did an interview with him about how hard this tour has been but nothing about the time cut. Any clues on what’s happening there?”
88km to go: The gap from the lead group to the yellow jersey group is almost exactly five minutes. Michal Kwiatkowski, one of two Ineos riders at the front, is currently doing the donkey work. Behind him, Sebastien Reichenbach has been dropped from the chase group.
89km to go: An Irishman light, our leading quintet press on, with Thomas De Gendt leading the chase from the group behind them.
91km to go: And then there five. Our lead group pedal onwards and upwards, with a lead of just over a minute over an increasingly thin chasing pack of 13 riders. The peloton is almost five minutes back.
96km to go: The field makes its way up the category three Col de Saisies. It’s 14.6km in length, with a gradient of 6.4% and is 1,650m above sea level.
96km to go: More praise for Nico Roche. “Good work getting into the breakaway group,” writes Niall Sheerin. “I expect Nico will be happy to give you a pull along the roads. On that point, not enough has been written about his heroic efforts this tour and his on-road marshalling of Team Sunweb to a couple of stage wins and near misses.
“A stat worth admiring is his placing in the top 10 of top 10 Tour de France stage finishes. He may not be glam, but he’s had a mighty impressive grand tour career and shared some wonderful insights to life in the peloton through his tour diaries!”
An email: “Is there a team that has animated this tour less than Total Direct Energie?” asks Peter MacMullan.
“According to procyclingstats, their best result so far is a 10th place finish for Nicola Bonafazio on stage 3, their best placed GC rider is Romain Sicard in 30th at 1hr 44min down on Roglic and they appear to have missed the break again today.
“Would really like to know what their pre-tour goals were and if any have been achieved. The other wildcard teams have at least been in contention for stages and to a lesser extent the GC.
“Really don’t understand what they bring to the race or why they were invited in the first place. Wanty or Alpecin would have made much more sense and would have at least attacked.”
99km to go: The gap from the lead group back to the peloton is 4min 35sec.
101km to go: Richard Carapaz and Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Barry Glendenning (Guardian Media Group), Marc Hirschi (Team Sunweb) still enjoy a slender lead of 46 seconds over their 10 closest rivals as they prepare to tackle the third climb of the day, the Col de Saisies. With two riders in the lead group, Ineos Grenadiers will be looking for a stage win on what has been a dismal Tour experience for them.
🔴⚪️ A battle at the summit saw 🇨🇭 @MarcHirschi finish top ahead of 🇪🇨 @RichardCarapazM!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) September 17, 2020
Même scénario que dans le col précédent : 🇨🇭 @MarcHirschi passe en tête devant 🇪🇨 @RichardCarapazM#TDF2020 pic.twitter.com/T70RyyhLV4
An email: “One of the two Irish cyclists in the break has to be the big favourite for the day, but the other, Nico Roche, might just be worth keeping an eye on as an outside bet for today,” writes Robin Hazlehurst. “He is road captain of Sunweb, who have done wonderfully well as a team, always getting into breaks, and taking some stages through clever tactics (Hirschi and especially Anderson).
“Roche has looked quite frisky himself on occasion, and though I’d not really fancy him for today as it’s probably just a bit too climby, I bet Sunweb would love to set him up for a win, and given how tactically astute they’ve been he has to have a (small) shout.”
106km to go: Hirschi takes two KOM points at the top of the second categorised climb of the day.
108km to go: Carapaz, Hirschi, Pello Bilbao, Michal Kwiatkowski and Nicolas Edet have opened a discernible gap between themselves and the rest of the breakaway.
The gap back to the peloton is 3min 35sec and as is customary, Jumbo-Visma are towing the main group. The presence of Damiano Caruso in the lead group means they can’t relax - he’s 12th on GC and 12min 30sec off the pace.
109km to go: Carapaz, Hirschi and three others are in a group of five riders leading the way up the second climb of the day. They’re about 20 seconds clear of the chasing group and looking fairly relaxed.
111km to go: The descent continues and the next categorised climb on the agenda is the snappily titled Cote de la route des Villes. Standing 1,093m in its socks, it is 3.2km in length with a gradient of 6.6%.
117km to go: On Eurosport, the race jury’s bizarre decision to give Julian Alaphilippe, rather than Richard Carapaz, yesterday’s combativity award is being discussed.
They can arrive at no definitive conclusion why the French jury made their decision to reward the French rider with the prize in this grand old French race. “There probably aren’t too many Ecuadorians on that jury,” says commentator Carlton Kirby.
123km to go: “I’m following the Tour de France on Spanish television and commentators yesterday were aghast (as were viewers) to see spectators running along next to riders on the mountain climbs shouting close to them, with face masks pulled down,” writes Gareth Thomas.
“This is extraordinary and so wrong. I saw this happen twice. Do we know if the French police are following up such footage and making arrests?
“Here in Spain it is now second nature for everyone to wear face masks in all public places and such scenes are shocking.”
I have no idea if the gendarmes are following up and making arrests, or indeed if it is mandatory for spectators to wear masks. If it’s not it certainly should be. Perhaps somebody closer to the action could mail in and let us know.
128km to go: Richard Carapaz makes a break for the summit of Cormet de Roseland to win the 10 points on offer, but is beaten over the top by Marc Hirschi.
The lead group begin their descent to the sound of conspicuously loud mooing from the cows in an adjacent field. Either they’re keen cycling fans or are spooked by the helicopters flying overhead.
128km to go: “Don’t think we haven’t noticed the flights of fancy in your breakaway list,” writes Bob O’Hara. “There is no way David Brailsford would do something as exciting as have a cyclist in the breakaway, let alone two.”
131km to go: Nans Peters is the best placed in the lead bunch in the King of the Mountains classification, but has a lot to do if he is to trouble the leaders.
132km to go: Your new, more manageable breakaway: Richard Carapaz and Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Nans Peters (Ag2r La Mondiale), Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ), Pello Bilbao and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-McLaren), Dario Cataldo, Nelson Oliveira and Carlos Verona (Movistar Team), Barry Glendenning (Guardian Media Group), Simon Geschke (CCC Team), Nicolas Edet and Jesús Herrada (Cofidis), Luis León Sánchez (Astana Pro Team), Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Marc Hirschi and Nicholas Roche (Team Sunweb).
133km to go: Hats off to Caruso, who has made it to the breakaway.
134km to go: Our lead group has been whittled down to 18 riders as they continue the first ascent, while Damiano Caruso has them in his sights. The Italian is trying to gatecrash the top 10 on General Classification.
137km to go: We have news of an abandonment. The veteran German sprinter Andre Greipel has had enough and stepped off his bike. One of the gentlemen of the peloton, the Israel Start-Up Nation rider won the last of his 10 Tour de France stages on the Champs-Elysees in 2016.
138km to go: Our original breakaway is down to 27 riders and being led by Richard Carapaz, who has seemingly bottomless reserves of energy following two tremendous but ultimately fruitless efforts in the past two stages.
138km to go: Bahrain-McLaren’s Damiano Caruso has attacked off the front of the peloton, as has Warren Barguil among others.
140km to go: Jumbo-Visma have five riders at the front of the yellow jersey group, but Tony Martin is not one of them. He’s cracked on the first climb.
141km to go: Peter Sagan has been dropped from the lead group, while Guillaume Martin has attacked off the front of the peloton to try to bridge a gap which now stands at 1min 20sec.
145km to go: Having also failed to get a man in the breakaway, Total Direct Energie have moved to the front of the peloton and are trying to close the gap. It’s coming down and is currently at 1min 27sec.
146km to go: His objective achieved for the day in the intermediate sprint, Sam Bennett bids farewell to his companions in the breakaway and starts sliding backwards on the first climb of the day.
147km to go: The riders approach the first of five categorised climbs today, the Cormet de Roseland. It’s a cat 1 that’s 1,968m high with a 6% gradient and 18.6km long.
An email: “Glad to see you made it into the breakaway group,” writes Sam Huscroft. “I’m interested to know if you are going to try and solo up the HC or keep your powder dry?”
151km to go: The gap between our breakaway and the the peloton is out to 1min 43sec. Bora riders Lennard Kamna and Max Schachmann have failed to bridge the gap.
Intermediate sprint result
- Bennett (20 points)
- Trentin (17)
- Sagan (15)
Revised green jersey standings
- Bennett 298
- Sagan 246
- Matteo Trentin 235
156km to go: The peloton is being led by riders from B&B Hotels-Vital Concept, who somehow contrived not to get a rider in an otherwise very well represented break. One imagines their team boss is not best pleased.
161km to go: Your breakaway group: Jonathan Castroviejo, Richard Carapaz, Michal Kwiatkowski and Dylan Van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers), Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Nans Peters (Ag2r La Mondiale), Sam Bennett and Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Rudy Molard and Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-McLaren), Alberto Bettiol and Tejay Van Garderen (EF Education First), Dayer Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic), Dario Cataldo, Nelson Oliveira, José Joaquín Rojas and Carlos Verona (Movistar Team), Simon Geschke and Matteo Trentin (CCC Team), Barry Glendenning (Guardian Media Group), Nicolas Edet and Jesús Herrada (Cofidis), Luis León Sánchez (Astana Pro Team), Jasper de Buyst and Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Krists Neilands (Israel Start-Up Nation), Michael Gogl and Michael Valgren (NTT Pro Cycling), Nikias Arndt, Marc Hirschi, Soren Kragh Andersen and Nicholas Roche (Team Sunweb).
159km to go: Bora-Hansgrohe riders Lennard Kamna and Max Scachmann are currently trying to bridge the gap between the peloton and the lead group. But who will they meet if they get there, I hear you ask. Well, I’ll tell you ...
161km to go: The 32-man breakaway opens a gap of 1min 05sec over the peloton as we approach the intermediate sprint. Bennett is first over the line, followed by Trentin with Sagan coming third.
Intermediate sprint: Today’s takes place early doors in the stage, in approximately three kilometres. Bennett, Sagan and Matteo Trentin are all in the lead group of 32 riders and will be contesting that. Bennett leads the category with 278 points, Sagan is next on 231 and Trentin is third with 218.
169km to go: De Gendt and chums are reeled in by the peloton, which promptly splits. A group of around 30 riders, including Sam Bennett in the green jersey and Peter Sagan, his nearest rival for the garment, make a break for it.
170km to go: Thomas de Gendt, of course. Or at least he’ll try. Off the Lotto Soudal rider darts,with three companions, trying to put a stretch of asphalt between themselves and the peloton. Expect several riders to try to jump across and bridge the gap - it could be quite some time before this stage settles.
They’re off and racing in stage 18: The road is about five lanes wide and the sun is hot as race director Christian Prudhomme semaphores the signal to start racing. Today’s stage is built for a breakaway, but who will get in it?
King of the Mountains
With just a flat stage, an individual time-trial and Sunday’s procession to Paris left after today’s stage, the battle for the King of the Mountains title is likely to be settled today.
AG2R rider Benoit Cosnefroy finally surrendered the polka-dot shirt after more than fortnight yesterday, dropping to fourth in the rankings. Tadej Pogacar now leads the classification with 66 points, with Primoz Roglic in second with 63. Miguel Angel Lopez is third with 51 points after his heroic performance yesterday, while Cosnefroy is next on 36 points.
Stage 17 recap ...
The French president Emmanuel Macron was pootling along behind the yellow jersey group in a Tour Skoda during yesterday’s stage won by Miguel Angel Lopez and saw Primoz Roglic extend his lead at the top of the General Classification. Jeremy Whittle was there for the Guardian ...
The top 10 on General Classification
Primoz Roglic extended his lead over his compatriot Tadej Pogacar yesterday, while Miguel Angel Lopez rode himself on to a podium position with his stage win.
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Stage 18: Meribel to La Roche sur Foron (175km)
From William Fotheringham’s stage-by-stage guide: The last of eight Alpine stages: a saw-tooth profile, with the partly gravel Plateau de Glières 32km from the finish. None of the favourites can afford a bad day here, but it doesn’t have the scary look of the day before. A stage for a break, a last chance for a rider like Romain Bardet or Warren Barguil to shine if he has had a poor three weeks.[Narrator’s voice: The curse of Fothers strikes again, as for the third consecutive day, our resident Jonah has tipped a rider who has been forced out of the race through injury.”]
- Today’s roll-out begins at 11.30am (BST)
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