54 riders in the lead
169 riders started stage 18 in Briançon. Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Alessandro De Marchi (BMC), Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie) and Elie Gesbert (Fortuneo-Oscaro) rode away after 5km of racing. They were rejoined nine kilometers further by 50 other to make it a group of 54: Jan Bakelants and Cyril Gautier (AG2R-La Mondiale), Carlos Betancur and Jesus Herrada (Movistar), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), De Marchi, Amaël Moinard and Nicolas Roche (BMC), Andrei Grivko, Bakhtiar Kozhatayev, Alexei Lutsenko and Michael Valgren (Astana), Darwin Atapuma, Kristjian Durasek, Marco Marcato, Ben Swift and Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates), Rudy Molard (FDJ), Daryl Impey (Orica), Stephen Cummings, Serge Pauwels and Jaco Venter (Dimension Data), Gianluca Brambilla and Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors), Robert Kiserlovski, Maurits Lammertink, Tiago Machado and Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin), Tiejs Benoot, De Gendt, Tony Gallopin and Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto-Soudal), Simon Geschke (Sunweb), Dimitri Claeys, Nicolas Edet and Dani Navarro (Cofidis), Thomas Voeckler, Calmejane, Sylvain Chavanel, Romain Sicard and Angelo Tulik (Direct Energie), Pierre Rolland, Simon Clarke and Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac), Sonny Colbrelli and Tsgabu Grmay (Bahrain-Merida), Guillaume Martin, Marco Minnaard and Dion Smith (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Brice Feillu, Gesbert, Romain Hardy, Eduardo Sepulveda and Florian Vachon (Fortuneo-Oscaro).
Lutsenko first at Vars, alone in the Izoard
After the côte des Demoiselles Coiffées (km 60) that gave De Gendt the occasion to score two more KOM points, seven riders rode away: Swift, Pauwels, Brambilla, Clarke, Vachon, Chavanel and Tulik. They were reeled in before the intermediate sprint won by Colbrelli at km 91 where a maximum time difference was recorded: 8.15. Bora-Hansgrohe took over from Team Sky in the lead of the peloton and it was the turn of AG2R-La Mondiale to bring the deficit down to 6.15 atop the col de Vars where Lutsenko, Atapuma and Sicard composed a leading quartet. They were reinforced with 28km to go by Edet, Navarro, Grmay and Hardy, and later by Molard and Ulissi. Lutsenko and Edet forged on with 20km to go while AG2R-La Mondiale was pulling the bunch with a deficit of 4.50. Lutsenko rode away solo with 15km as the ascent to col d'Izoard was starting.
Barguil takes his revenge over Atapuma
6.5km before the summit, Atapuma passed Lutsenko while Warren Barguil (Sunweb) and Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) attacked from the yellow jersey group. Barguil continued chasing on his own. 1.5km to go, Barguil caught Atapuma and rode him off to take his revenge from the 2016 Tour de Suisse when he finished second to the Colombian in a stage. Barguil soloed to the most beautiful victory of his career at the col d'Izoard, wearing the polka dot jersey that he already mathematically secured at col de Vars. Fighting for the yellow jersey, Romain Bardet attacked under the 3km to go banner. Chris Froome countered him but they were reunited with Rigoberto Uran and Mikel Landa to sprint to third place behind Barguil and Atapuma. With the time bonus, Bardet returned to second place overall, 23 seconds down on Froome and six seconds ahead of Uran while Fabio Aru dropped to fifth with three stages to go including the individual time trial in Marseille on the penultimate day.
