TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 18 | GAP > BARCELONNETTE
Stage 18 of the 2024 Tour de France was won in style by Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-dstny) in Barcelonnette, with the Belgian outpacing his fellow breakaway companions Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) to the line. Campenaerts secured his first ever Tour de France stage victory, to add to the Giro d’Italia stage he won in 2021, collaborating well with Vercher and Kwiatkowski as they rode clear in the final 35 kilometres. Having been the most aggressive rider of the 2023 Tour, Campenaerts can now cherish a well-deserved and hard-earned Grande Boucle bouquet. Meanwhile, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) remains in yellow, still 3’11” ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and 5’09” in front of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step).
37 riders in the breakaway
The stage commenced with 145 riders on the start line in Gap, with the teams alert to the high probability of immediate breakaway attempts. That was exactly how the stage started, with the World Champion Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin – Deceuninck) amongst those highly active at the front of the bunch looking to escape. After constant attacks and counter attacks in the opening kilometres Van der Poel was finally not amongst the large group of about 20 riders who went clear at km 26, just before the first climb to the Col du Festre.
Talent in the breakaway
Finally 37 riders made it into the breakaway, namely: Bart Lemmen, Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Chris Juul Jensen, Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla), Michal Kwiatkowski, Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Julien Bernard, Toms Skujiņš (Lidl-Trek), Bruno Armirail, Dorian Godon, Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale), Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious), Jai Hindley, Matteo Sobrero (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Valentin Madouas, Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), Richard Carapaz, Ben Healy, Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-dstny), Hugo Houle, Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Alex Aranburu, Oier Lazkano, Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar Team), Clement Champoussin, Raul Garcia Pierna (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Louis Meintjes, Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché-Wanty), Oscar Onley, Frank Van den Broek (Team dsm-firmenich), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X), Steff Cras, Mathieu Burgaudeau, Jordan Jegat and Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies). Meanwhile, UAE Team Emirates, Soudal Quick-Step, Alpecin – Deceuninck and Astana Qazaqstan were the four teams without representation in the breakaway, all four having already achieved at least one stage win at this year’s Tour.
Five categorised climbs
Lazkano was the first over the Col du Festre summit (Cat. 3, km 32.2), as well as the Côte de Corps (Cat. 3, km 57.5) and the Col de Manse (Cat. 3, km 97.3), whilst Onley lost contact with the breakaway due to a series of mechanical problems. Matthews was first in the Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur intermediate sprint (IS, km 84.3), where the breakaway enjoyed a lead of 5’40” over a peloton controlled by UAE Team Emirates. There were numerous attacks at the front of the large breakaway on the Côte de Saint-Apollinaire (Cat. 3, km 121), which was topped first by Johannessen, with the leaders of the stage going over the climb 10’30” ahead of the bunch. On the final categorised climb of the stage it was Kwiatkowski who led the way over the Côte des Demoiselles Coiffées and after the descent a trio formed at the front of the race, 35 km from the finish line, as Vercher and Campenaerts joined the Polish rider of Ineos Grenadiers in the lead.
A thrilling finale
Over a final sector of 25km of rising false flats Kwiatkowski, Vercher and Campenaerts collaborated well, to open up a gap over the chasing group behind them. With 15 kilometres to go the leading trio had managed to extend their advantage over the five closest chasers to over 40”. In the final metres of the stage Campenaerts proved too strong for his rivals and outpaced them to the line for the win.
Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny): “My Girlfriend Is the Hero of This Story”
“Winning a stage in the Tour de France is everybody’s dream. I’m not a neopro and I’ve been dreaming of this for a very long time. The period after the Classics was very difficult for me. I had a verbal agreement with the team about extending my contract, but I got ignored for a long time. I was at a long altitude training camp. My girlfriend was there and she supported me every day, while pregnant, as I was struggling to even fulfil my training program. I doubted I had a future in cycling as I was about to become a father. Coming into the Tour de France we had a super motivated team, with a super good atmosphere in the team. This is just the sum of the atmosphere in the team and we’re gonna celebrate tonight. The support I’ve had from my girlfriend is incredible, she is always there for me. She is my girlfriend, not my wife. Not yet! We have been nine weeks in altitude together, at Sierra Nevada (Spain). She gave birth to our son in Granada, indeed, at the bottom of the climb. She is the hero of this story. I’m so grateful to her and to the team, which showed a lot of faith in me and allowed me to stay for nine weeks in altitude without doing any race on the build-up. I’ll be leaving the team this winter, but I’m happy I can finish my spell in the team with the highlight of my career. I think I played it very smart and also the team gave me a lot of confidence. Everybody knew that I had very good legs and that this was a stage that I aimed for in December already. I knew this was the only stage that looked like I could win. In the breakaway, I only had one bullet and maybe played it a bit dirty, showing everybody that I was hurting a lot in order not to take many pulls. The final attack was great, and the trio at the front cooperated super well today. I’m lost for words. I’m looking forward to see my girlfriend and my son.”
Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty): “Now the Hardest Stages Are Coming Up”
“Today was one of the hardest days to be honest for me, harder than the last two days. After the crash, now it hurts a lot. Today I had a lot of pain, so I went to the doctor to ask for some painkillers and also some new bandages. I managed quite well to arrive in the time. Now the hardest stages are coming up, especially with the shorter stages at high altitude, a lot of climbing. It’s going to be a really tough also with a lot of riders out of the race, so it means that we don’t have a lot of riders for the gruppetto, so it’s not going to be easy, but I hope my teammates are always with me. We need to deal with it and continue until Nice.”
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step): “I Feel Comfortable at Altitude”
“Today’s stage went well. On our side, everything was under control in the team. We had to stay very focused, especially on the very technical descents. In the end we arrived without having experienced any problems, so all is well. I stayed two weeks in training at Isola 2000, because I knew that there are a lot of riders who live in Nice and Monaco and who know these roads very well. So I had to go too. Now I have clearly identified the routes of the three stages which are coming, these are the ones which will count enormously for the riders in the general classification. I feel pretty good, I have good legs and I was particularly confident in yesterday’s stage. Tomorrow will be a short stage and I feel comfortable at altitude, so it’s not a problem for me. There may be fireworks, but either way it’s the legs that will do the talking, there will be no secrets. If there is an opportunity to win one, I will try, but we will also have to see what the configuration of the breakaway group will be.”
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “Do I Play With Home Advantage This Weekend? Not Really.”
“It feels good to have an easier day like this one. Actually, the course never allowed us to get too relaxed, as it was up and down the whole time and that made it hard. In any case, we were under control. I’m really enjoying my time at this Tour de France. The atmosphere within the team is great, and I love seeing so many Slovenian fans on the roadside. I don’t know if somebody has said what the queen stage of this Tour de France is, but it might well be tomorrow’s. La Bonette is a big, nice climb. As for Isola 2000, I’ve trained there ahead of the Tour and I know it well. Do I play with home advantage this weekend? Not really. My only advantage is those 3’11” I have on Jonas. As for my strategy, I will start on the defensive to later see if I can go on the offensive, as it can be a good stage for Jonas himself.”
TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 18 | GAP > BARCELONNETTE | DAILY STATS
5-1: CAMPENAERTS, FROM SUPER-COMBATIVE TO SUPER-EFFICIENT
After he was named the most combative rider of the Tour de France 2023, Victor Campenaerts now claims his maiden stage win, adding up to another breakaway success in the Giro. Last year, the Belgian was part of 5 breakaways, with a 10th place as his best result (in Belleville-en-Beaujolais, stage 12). En route to Barcelonnette, he made his first breakaway of the Tour 2024 and capped a spectacular day with a strong sprint, hitting 65.3km/h in the last kilometre.
1.470: LOTTO DSTNY END THEIR DROUGHT
Deeply rooted in the history of the Tour de France, Lotto Dstny won their 1st stage in 1987, with Marc Sergeant, and their 41st on day 18 of the Tour 2024, thanks to Victor Campenaerts. Their last victory to date was Caleb Ewan’s, on 9 July 2020, i.e. 1.470 days ago!
2: VERCHER IS UNBREAKABLE
Participating in his first Tour de France 2024 at 23 years old, Mattéo Vercher claimed his best professional result with a place of 2nd Barcelonnette that highlights his resilience. The young Frenchman had a rough start of the Tour, with a severe dehydration en route to Rimini. His stage 18 also started off the wrong foot, with a crash in the neutral zone. And still, he was there to sprint for the win, after 179.5km of battle at 43.023km/h.
14: THE TOUR AND THE HOUR RECORD, A HISTORIC RELATIONSHIP
As he powered to victory in Barcelonnette, Victor Campenaerts became the 14th rider whose list of achievements features both a Tour stage win and a stint as the holder of the hour record. The first to do so was Lucien Petit-Breton, who even won the overall in 1907 and 1908. And the list includes names such as Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Fausto Coppi.
Campenaerts set his hour record – 55.089km – in 2019, beating Bradley Wiggins’ reference from 2015. His record lasted until 2022, when it was beaten by Daniel Bigham and then Filippo Ganna. It should also be noted that the first rider to set the hour record, in 1893, was Henri Desgrange, founder of the Tour de France.
5-5: LAZKANO (SORT OF) EQUALS POGAČAR
As he took three KOMs today (Côte de Corps, Col de Manse and Côte de Saint-Apollinaire), Oier Lazkano has now gone first atop 5 categorised climbs in the Tour 2024, as many as Tadej Pogačar. The (huge) difference lies in the category of the ascents they conquered. Lazkano went first at the Tourmalet (HC) and atop 3 cat-3 and one cat-4 ascents. He has 41 KOM points.
Pogačar conquered the other 3 HC Climbs so far in the Tour (Galibier, Pla d’Adet, Plateau de Beille), as well as cat-1 and a cat-2 climbs. His tally of 77 points makes him the owner (but not the wearer) of the polka-dot jersey for the 8th day in a row. Only Jonas Abrahamsen took more KOMs than Lazkano and Pogačar: 18 (1 cat-2, 7 cat-3s, 10 cat-4s)
37: AND NOW POGAČAR JOINS FRANTZ
Tadej Pogačar keeps moving up in the all-time rankings of riders who led the overall standings of the Tour de France: 37 Maillot Jaune, as many as Nicolas Frantz, in the 8th position. Antonin Magne is 7th with 39 jerseys. In 6th place, Sylvère Maes (41 Maillot Jaune) is out of reach for this year even if Pogačar were to keep the jersey all the way to Nice.
14: GIRMAY IN THE TOP-40
With 387 points, Biniam Girmay is coming closer and closer to being the first African rider to win a ranking in the Tour de France. In the meantime, his 14th green jersey is the 37th best tally ever, tied with Sam Bennett, who won the points standings in 2020. Peter Sagan is the rider who has collected the most green jerseys in his career: 130! Among the riders participating in the Tour 2024, Mark Cavendish (43) leads the way ahead of Wout van Aert (20) and Jasper Philipsen (18).
4: JOHANNESSEN SHOWS UNO-X MOBILITY’S COMBATIVITY
After Jonas Abrahamsen (stages 2 and 8) and Magnus Cort (stage 13), Tobias Johannessen claimed a 4th combativity award for Uno-X Mobility, more than any other team in this Tour (Groupama-FDJ follow with 3). In line with his aggressive racing on challenging days, Johannessen made the breakaway and was part of the battle for the stage win when he crashed with 35km to go, at a speed of 55.3km/h. He eventually finished 18th.
7: KWIATKOWSKI, BACK IN THE TOP-3
After he provoked the decisive split in the finale, Michal Kwiatkowski came very close to a first professional success since he won stage 13 of the Tour de France 2023, 1 year and 4 days ago. The Polish will have to settle for a 7th top-3 in the Tour: 2 wins, 1 place of 2nd, 4 places of 3rd.
