Stage 18

The road

At the start

The last dance, on Hautacam

A week of attacking has bought Tadej Pogačar four bonus seconds. He is 2:18 behind Jonas Vingegaard with one mountain day left, and Geraint Thomas sits third at 4:56, out of reach of both. Today is the Col d'Aubisque, then the narrow and unfamiliar Col de Spandelles, then Hautacam — the climb where Bjarne Riis, the only Dane ever to win this race, sealed his Tour in 1996.

How it was won

1. 167 km to go

   Van Aert up the road again

   The green jersey is in the day's break with Dani Martínez and Pinot, over the Aubisque and building a buffer. It looks like a hunt for a stage win; it is really the most audacious piece of team tactics of the race.

2. 234 km to go

   Over the Spandelles

   The narrow, unfamiliar Col de Spandelles is climbed and descended with Van Aert, Martínez and Pinot holding two minutes over a yellow jersey group being paced by Kuss and Benoot.

3. 311 km to go

   Onto Hautacam

   Martínez leads Pinot and Van Aert onto the climb. Behind, Kuss and Benoot tow Thomas, Meintjes, Madouas and Houle up to the maillot jaune group, and the Gaudu group fractures further back.

4. 46 km to go

   Pogačar throws everything, three times

   Six kilometres from the top Pogačar attacks and almost pulls Vingegaard across to the leaders; Kuss dashes back to help. He goes again with four to climb and the Dane matches him easily. Thomas feints away, then loses touch, and the two rivals settle in to fight it out alone.

5. 54 km to go

   Van Aert drops the yellow jersey's rival

   Kuss reels in the break on the 10-11% pitches and hands over to Van Aert — a green-jersey sprinter, on Hautacam, after a hundred kilometres in the break — who calmly lifts the pace on a flatter section and drops Tadej Pogačar off the wheel. It is the moment the 2022 Tour is finally, irrevocably decided, and it is delivered by a man who had no business still being there.

6. 6At the line

   Vingegaard wins at Hautacam

   Launched clear, the Dane rides away to the summit for the stage and buries the general classification. Pogačar chases gamely, limits what he can, and crosses knowing it is over.

The result