Stage 18

The road

At the start

Five seconds, and Puerto Herrera

Kaden Groves won in Santander and nothing above him moved: five seconds is still all that separates Ben O'Connor from Primož Roglič, with Enric Mas at 1:25 and Richard Carapaz at 1:46. Today crosses the Basque hills to Maestu, with the category 1 Puerto Herrera 35 kilometres out — bonus seconds at its summit — and a short, steep kick five kilometres from the line. Five seconds can go in either place.

How it was won

1. 180 km to go

   A 42-man break splits away

   A vast 42-rider move finally forms after echelons and attacks, so large that the red-jersey group is soon more than ten minutes adrift.

2. 235 km to go

   Carapaz attacks on Puerto Herrera

   The decisive GC move of the day: Carapaz jumps on the steep Puerto Herrera, briefly distancing O'Connor and shedding Mikel Landa, who tumbles out of the top five.

3. 36 km to go

   Berrade goes solo on the last climb

   On the final categorised climb 6km out, Kruijswijk attacks but Urko Berrade counters straight past him and drops the Dutchman to go clear alone.

4. 4At the line

   Berrade's maiden win

   Berrade never looks back, holding off the chasing sprint of the break remnants for his first professional victory as O'Connor keeps red by five seconds.

The result