Discover the Stage 18 highlights
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More information on :
https://www.letour.fr
https://www.facebook.com/letour
https://twitter.com/letour
https://www.instagram.com/letourdefrance
https://www.tiktok.com/@letourdefrance
More exclusive contents on Tour de France Club : https://www.letour.fr/fr/club
Official Hashtag : #TDF2024
© Amaury Sport Organisation - www.aso.fr
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SportTranscription
00:00Our bodies are controlled by our minds.
00:07When the body is tired, it tries to protect itself.
00:10You feel like if you had a speed limiter in your car, once you are in a breakaway and
00:15you get that adrenaline, these mental limits sometimes they go away and you can again reach
00:21your full potential.
00:25Romain Bardet who attacks.
00:27It's a Bardet blockbuster, first ever yellow jersey for the Frenchman.
00:39When you get someone emotional, you can time more.
00:41Taddy Pogacar attacks, trying to take a symbolic few seconds from Jonas Vengegaard.
00:47I don't know even myself anymore why I tried today, but yeah, I took two seconds ahead
00:52of Jonas today and I'm happy with that.
00:55Every morning when you wake up and you contract your legs and you're in pain, it's the moment
00:59where you have to say to yourself, it's the same for everyone, and it's at that moment
01:04that the mind has to take over.
01:09More than half of the bunch knows that this is the last opportunity for a lot of guys,
01:14so yeah, it's all in the head.
01:16Stage 18 is a punchy outing through the Alps with five smallish climbs on the menu.
01:27Like yesterday, it should be one for the breakaway, so we can expect another high octane start.
01:32Start of the day stage at 1.13, 1.13.
01:36145 riders at the start.
01:39Lots of riders now at the front of the race trying to go away.
01:45That looks like a good breakaway.
01:52Now we get another counter-attack, more riders jumping away.
01:59It took around 30km for the breakaway to form with 36 riders.
02:04Yesterday's stage winner Carapaz was in there along with his teammates Healy and Quinn.
02:09Kwiatkowski, Hindley, Thomas, Lascano, Madouas, Johannesson, Matthews and Van Aert also in the mix,
02:16so a huge amount of firepower.
02:18The peloton sitting up and letting the gappies out to around four minutes
02:22as the break began to hit the climbs.
02:31The action has been hot.
02:34The temperature has been hotter.
02:36It's a very hot day on the Tour de France.
02:39At this point it was clear that the stage victory would go to the breakaway as predicted.
02:44The escapees starting to step things up a gear on the penultimate climb
02:48with the first real attempts to thin out the group.
02:52And there's the attack, Ben Healy.
02:54Big attack on the right-hand side as we look as Healy goes to try and split this race up.
03:01And riders in trouble.
03:03Chris Juliensen is dropped. Sobrero is dropped as well.
03:10Johannesson leading Kwiatkowski over the summit,
03:13although most of the dropped riders would catch up again on the descent.
03:17There was one remaining climb, the Côte de Demoiselles Coiffé, to try to make a difference.
03:26Attack of Mikhail Kwiatkowski.
03:28This is a concerted effort now to break this group of riders up.
03:32Kwiatkowski checks. Nielands goes with him.
03:35They've got their face on Kwiatkowski as he ramps up the pressure.
03:39Ineos Grenadiers looking to consolidate now and take a group away to the finish.
03:56Johannesson has crashed.
04:03Shimano.
04:06Three leaders. The chasers are just behind.
04:10Ascano accelerates. He knows they need to get across.
04:15And all three riders know that it's a massive, massive chance if they arrive, the three of them together.
04:22Obviously they're going to try and attack each other, but first they need to secure a decent enough gap.
04:33The breakaway shattering in the final 30km.
04:36With the likes of Hindley, Carapaz and Van Aert finding themselves out of contention,
04:41victory would go to Verchey, Kwiatkowski or Campenaerts.
04:461.3km to go. Verchey is fighting for the wheel.
04:49Is he just going to stay on? Yes, he's trying to stay.
04:52One kilometre to go, but be careful.
04:54I do think Verchey might try and anticipate.
04:56He knows these two riders are going to look at each other.
04:59Verchey is quite nervous. One kilometre of racing to go.
05:03Kwiatkowski, Campenaerts, Verchey.
05:06These three riders now are going to fight it out.
05:09Although we're being told that it's 24 seconds to the chasers.
05:13Is that time check correct?
05:15Now an attack. Matteo Verchey decides to go clear to try and win the stage for Total Energie.
05:21Kwiatkowski looks around at Campenaerts.
05:23Campenaerts refuses to close the gap.
05:25Kwiatkowski looks around at Campenaerts.
05:27Campenaerts refuses to close the gap.
05:29Kwiatkowski is going to be the rider who has to do it.
05:32Matteo Verchey trying to win this stage.
05:35He now freewheels. They all look at each other as they come into Barcelona.
05:39Look at the face of Victor Campenaerts.
05:42Has he played the perfect game?
05:44Can he win the stage?
05:46Kwiatkowski looks so, so calm, cool and collected.
05:5144km an hour.
05:53Kwiatkowski has them on the barriers where he wants them.
05:56300m to go and still nobody has made the move.
06:00Kwiatkowski waits.
06:01They turn left now.
06:03They're not far from the finish line.
06:05Campenaerts, when he goes, is going to have to go flat out straight for the line.
06:09Here they go now.
06:10This is the sprint.
06:11Campenaerts ride.
06:12Verchey through the middle.
06:14Kwiatkowski.
06:15Campenaerts.
06:16Victor Campenaerts.
06:17Is he going to win his first ever stage of the Tour?
06:20The winner is Victor Campenaerts.
06:42As a real professional, you have to ride the Tour de France, finish the Tour de France.
06:47Winning a stage in the Tour de France is everybody's dream.
06:57I've been dreaming about this for a very long time.
07:06Campenaerts landing his first Tour stage win,
07:09a year after being named the race's most aggressive rider.
07:12The Belgian adding to his success on the Giro in 2021.
07:16Pogacar enjoying a final quiet day before we hit the high mountains again.
07:20It's very hard to see him losing that yellow jersey between now and Nice.
07:26Guillaumet still has a 33-point lead in green.
07:29The Eritrean will now switch to survival mode for the last three stages.
07:35Pogacar, on the other hand, will be looking to wrap up his third victory
07:38in the mountains classification at the Tour this weekend.
07:41He's still 19 points clear.
07:44And Evenepoel has a comfortable lead
07:46as he bids to finish his first Tour as the best young rider.
08:11Thank you very much.
08:13Thank you.
08:16Thank you very much.