Stage 18

The road

At the start

The Tourmalet, then Luz Ardiden

The Portet lifted Vingegaard to second at 5:39 and Carapaz to third four seconds behind him, and pushed Urán to fourth: the podium is the only contest left. Steven Kruijswijk abandoned yesterday. Today is short and merciless — 130 kilometres out of Pau, the Tourmalet from Sainte-Marie-de-Campan, and then the last mountain of the race, Luz Ardiden.

How it was won

1. 167 km to go

   BikeExchange come for the green jersey

   The Australian team lift the pace on the Côte de Loucrup specifically to shed Cavendish before the intermediate sprint. He survives it, then beats Matthews at Pouzac anyway and extends his lead.

2. 245 km to go

   Gaudu attacks the Tourmalet

   Halfway up the most famous climb in the race, with 45km left, Gaudu goes clear with Izagirre, Guerreiro and Fraile — the most threatening of a whole afternoon of moves.

3. 336 km to go

   Over the Tourmalet

   Alaphilippe cracks four kilometres from the summit; Urán, fourth overall, is spat out of the yellow jersey group with 37km to go. Poels takes the points and the polka dots as Woods sits up, and Gaudu crests second and dives away down the far side.

4. 410 km to go

   Seventeen seconds at the foot of Luz Ardiden

   Gaudu reaches the bottom of the final climb with the slenderest of margins over an Ineos-led peloton, ten kilometres of climbing left and Kwiatkowski taking over on the front.

5. 5At the line

   Luz Ardiden

   Pogačar wins his second summit finish in two days, ahead of Vingegaard and Carapaz again. Three weeks after the crash at Landerneau reshaped the race, the 22-year-old has answered every question anyone thought to ask him.

The result