Stage 18

The road

At the start

Three mountain days begin

Three climbing days in a row start here, and the top three are inside half a minute: Geraint Thomas, João Almeida at 18 seconds, Primož Roglič at 29. Today is 160 kilometres from Oderzo into the Dolomites over five categorised climbs — the Passo della Crosetta early, the Forcella Cibiana and its fifteen-per-cent pitches late, and in the last fourteen kilometres the Coi, which touches twenty.

How it was won

1. 126 km to go

   Forcella Cibiana

   Pinot clips maximum points over the Cibiana with a trademark impulsive move; behind, De Plus drills the pace and the peloton is already down to twenty.

2. 210 km to go

   The Coi shatters the GC

   On the penultimate climb a sudden Sepp Kuss surge for Roglič blows the maglia rosa group to just four — Kuss, Roglič, Thomas and Dunbar — as Roglič lunges and Thomas answers.

3. 32 km to go

   Roglič opens the throttle

   On the final short climb Roglič powers away with Thomas, and the pair gain 21 seconds on a distanced Almeida — the Slovenian growing stronger by the day.

4. 4At the line

   Val di Zoldo

   Up front the National Champion Filippo Zana out-powers Pinot by half a wheel in a hard-fought summit-finish duel.

The result