Stage 18

The road

At the start

Quintana back in it, four passes

The crosswinds tore the race apart in yesterday's opening kilometres and Nairo Quintana was in the right half of it — five minutes recovered in an afternoon, and the Colombian is second again at 2:24, ahead of his own teammate Valverde at 2:48, Pogačar at 3:42, López at 4:09. Today is almost a copy of the 2015 stage that made Fabio Aru: four first-category passes, fifty kilometres of climbing.

How it was won

1. 160 km to go

   Astana blow it apart on the Morcuera

   Astana dramatically lift the pace on the second ascent of the Morcuera and López attacks 3km from the top, splintering the GC group with 60km still to race.

2. 252 km to go

   Higuita seizes the moment

   On the descent Sergio Higuita, last survivor of the break, attacks and opens 45 seconds — a Grand Tour debutant sensing the chance of his life.

3. 317 km to go

   López throws everything on the Cotos

   López accelerates again and again 5km from the summit; Roglič and Valverde go with him, but Pogačar cracks and loses the white jersey to the Colombian.

4. 4At the line

   Higuita holds on in Becerril

   Higuita defends his lead down the final descent for the biggest win of his young career, as Roglič outsprints Valverde for the bonus seconds behind.

The result