Tour de France 2015 – Stage 18 [FULL STAGE](flemish)

July 23, 2015

Tour de France 2015 – Stage 18 – Gap – Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne : 186,5 km

As befits a race that is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the red polka dot King of the Mountains jersey, the emphasis of the 102nd Tour de France is very firmly on climbing. There are no less than seven mountains stages and five summit finishes on a 3,360km route starting in the Dutch city of Utrecht on 4 July and finishing in Paris on 26 July, when another significant anniversary will be marked as it is 40 years since the Tour’s first finale on the Champs Élysées. However, despite being weighted towards the specialist climbers, the route is packed with all manner of tests designed to catch out the unwary and reward the courageous. This has become the defining style of Tour supremo Christian Prudhomme and his route director Thierry Gouvenou, with the pair determined to ensure that the contenders for the yellow jersey have to be right on their mettle from the 13.8km time trial in Utrecht on the very first day. There are complications aplenty over the eight stages that follow, the most significant being the hilltop finish at Huy on day three, the 13km of Paris-Roubaix pavé that come the day after, and the hilltop finish that comes on the race’s second Saturday at Mûr de Bretagne. Following that, and prior to the first rest day, a shortish team time trial should also be intriguing, both because of its rolling course and because some teams will already be down a rider or two. Three hard days in the Pyrenees, including a very tough finish at Plateau de Beille, kick off the high-mountain action. This continues after the second rest day, when there are three summit finishes in the Alps. The first is at Pra Loup, where Frenchman Romain Bardet recently triumphed in the Critérium du Dauphiné, the second at La Toussuire, and the third at Alpe d’Huez, which for the first time features on the penultimate day of the race.

Just as in the Critérium du Dauphiné in June, Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) used his descending skills to break away and take a solo victory on stage 18 of the Tour de France.

Results :

General Classification after Stage 18 :