July 18, 2024 Gap -> Barcelonnette
Stage 18 of the 2024 Tour de France was won in style by Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-dstny) in Barcelonnette, with the Belgian outpacing his fellow breakaway companions Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) to the line. Campenaerts secured his first ever Tour de France stage victory, to add to the Giro d’Italia stage he won in 2021, collaborating well with Vercher and Kwiatkowski as they rode clear in the final 35 kilometres. Having been the most aggressive rider of the 2023 Tour, Campenaerts can now cherish a well-deserved and hard-earned Grande Boucle bouquet. Meanwhile, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) remains in yellow, still 3’11” ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and 5’09” in front of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step).
37 riders in the breakaway
The stage commenced with 145 riders on the start line in Gap, with the teams alert to the high probability of immediate breakaway attempts. That was exactly how the stage started, with the World Champion Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin – Deceuninck) amongst those highly active at the front of the bunch looking to escape. After constant attacks and counter attacks in the opening kilometres Van der Poel was finally not amongst the large group of about 20 riders who went clear at km 26, just before the first climb to the Col du Festre.
Talent in the breakaway
Finally 37 riders made it into the breakaway, namely: Bart Lemmen, Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Chris Juul Jensen, Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla), Michal Kwiatkowski, Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Julien Bernard, Toms Skujins (Lidl-Trek), Bruno Armirail, Dorian Godon, Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale), Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious), Jai Hindley, Matteo Sobrero (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Valentin Madouas, Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), Richard Carapaz, Ben Healy, Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-dstny), Hugo Houle, Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Alex Aranburu, Oier Lazkano, Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar Team), Clement Champoussin, Raul Garcia Pierna (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Louis Meintjes, Georg Zimmermann (Intermarche-Wanty), Oscar Onley, Frank Van den Broek (Team dsm-firmenich), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X), Steff Cras, Mathieu Burgaudeau, Jordan Jegat and Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies). Meanwhile, UAE Team Emirates, Soudal Quick-Step, Alpecin – Deceuninck and Astana Qazaqstan were the four teams without representation in the breakaway, all four having already achieved at least one stage win at this year’s Tour.
Five categorized climbs
Lazkano was the first over the Col du Festre summit (Cat. 3, km 32.2), as well as the Côte de Corps (Cat. 3, km 57.5) and the Col de Manse (Cat. 3, km 97.3), whilst Onley lost contact with the breakaway due to a series of mechanical problems. Matthews was first in the Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur intermediate sprint (IS, km 84.3), where the breakaway enjoyed a lead of 5’40” over a peloton controlled by UAE Team Emirates. There were numerous attacks at the front of the large breakaway on the Côte de Saint-Apollinaire (Cat. 3, km 121), which was topped first by Johannessen, with the leaders of the stage going over the climb 10’30” ahead of the bunch. On the final categorised climb of the stage it was Kwiatkowski who led the way over the Côte des Demoiselles Coiffées and after the descent a trio formed at the front of the race, 35 km from the finish line, as Vercher and Campenaerts joined the Polish rider of Ineos Grenadiers in the lead.
A thrilling finale
Over a final sector of 25km of rising false flats Kwiatkowski, Vercher and Campenaerts collaborated well, to open up a gap over the chasing group behind them. With 15 kilometres to go the leading trio had managed to extend their advantage over the five closest chasers to over 40”. In the final metres of the stage Campenaerts proved too strong for his rivals and outpaced them to the line for the win.
Stage 18 Results
1 Victor CAMPENAERTS LOTTO DSTNY 04h 10′ 20′
2 Matteo VERCHER TOTALENERGIES 04h 10′ 20”
3 Michal KWIATKOWSKI INEOS GRENADIERS 04h 10′ 20”
GC
1 Tadej POGAČAR UAE TEAM EMIRATES 74h 45′ 27”
2 Jonas VINGEGAARD HANSEN TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE 74h 48′ 38” + 00h 03′ 11”
3 Remco EVENEPOEL SOUDAL QUICK-STEP 74h 50′ 36” + 00h 05′ 09”
“If I can win a stage, it will be stage 18.” That was Victor Campenaerts’ prediction back in December already. And look: six months later, he did it. Between Gap and Barcelonnette, Vocsnor showed incredible strength. Campenaerts broke away on the Col du Festre, the first climb of the day, initially with several other riders. But on the Côte de Saint-Apollinaire, the leading group started to fall apart. With 40 kilometers to go, only Victor Campenaerts, Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies), and Michał Kwiatkowski (INEOS Grenadiers) remained. “I knew this was my only option to win a stage, I was already focused on it before the season began. I was highly motivated: I warmed up on the rollers before the stage, my bike was perfectly tuned. I even had time trial tires put on. This had to be the day. Riding in a breakaway with Kwiatkowski is an honor in itself, but we worked very well together, the three of us.”
Campenaerts is extremely happy with his victory. “A true pro must ride the Tour de France, finish the Tour de France, and win a stage in the Tour de France. That is everyone’s dream, and now, here in Barcelonnette, I can make it come true. It’s unbelievable. I’ve had the full support of my team over the past weeks. I went on a nine-week high-altitude training camp to prepare. All that time, my girlfriend, heavily pregnant, was by my side. While the rest of the team prepared for this Tour in the Dauphiné or the Tour of Switzerland, we were in the hospital in Spain for the birth of our son. That week was supposed to be a heavy training week for me. ‘See what you can do,’ my coach said. But I was tireless. Since Gustaaf was born, I’ve been riding on clouds.”
“This is the highlight of my career, and I’m very happy to share it with this team. A young team, with little experience. But we are showing ourselves here. With Arnaud De Lie in almost every sprint, with a beautiful time trial. The atmosphere within the team is fantastic, and you can be sure that we are going to celebrate tonight.”
