Stage 18

The road

At the start

Tourmalet, then Hautacam

The last day in the mountains: out of Pau, over the Tourmalet at 2,115 metres past the Jacques Goddet memorial, then 13.6 kilometres up the Hautacam. Vincenzo Nibali leads by 5:26 from Alejandro Valverde, with Thibaut Pinot at 6:00 and Jean-Christophe Péraud at 6:08 — two Frenchmen within half a minute of a place on the podium in Paris, and one time trial still to come.

How it was won

1. 165 km to go

   Chavanel lights the Tourmalet

   Eighty kilometres of truce end at the foot of the giant. Chavanel accelerates off the front; Nieve and Kadri set off after him and go straight past.

2. 250 km to go

   Kadri leads over the Tourmalet

   Nieve does the work past La Mongie but it is Kadri, apparently in trouble, who crests first. Four minutes back the yellow jersey group comes over and Valverde attacks immediately, Movistar massing around him.

3. 335 km to go

   Movistar brought to heel

   Herrada, Izagirre, Voeckler and Wyss join Valverde's move, and for a few kilometres it looks dangerous. The yellow jersey group swallows it whole on the descent.

4. 410 km to go

   Horner's spark

   Ten kilometres from the top of Hautacam the 2013 Vuelta winner attacks, and Nibali is on his wheel instantly. The moment the American eases, the Italian goes past him and keeps going.

5. 58 km to go

   Nieve is caught

   Nieve had lit the climb up and dropped Kadri; with nine kilometres left his lead is thirty seconds, and a kilometre later there is a yellow jersey alongside him. The stage is Nibali's, and everyone else is racing for second.

6. 64 km to go

   The French fight for the podium

   Pinot pushes at 3.5km to shake off Péraud; Van Garderen chases; Valverde, dropped and written off, finds a second wind and drives the group to save his place.

7. 7At the line

   A masterclass on Hautacam

   Nibali crosses 1:10 clear of Pinot, Majka, Péraud and Van Garderen — his fourth stage win of the race, taken in the Pyrenees, in yellow, with the Tour already long since won.

The result