Arnaud Démare of Groupama-FDJ won the bunch gallop ahead of Christophe Laporte from Cofidis to deliver a 1-2 for French riders in Pau after several sprinters had quit the Tour. It’s the second Tour de France victory for the former French champion. Geraint Thomas retained the yellow jersey.
146 riders started stage 18 in Trie-sur-Baïse. Five riders went clear after 1.5km: Niki Tersptra (Quick Step), Guillaume van Keirsbulck (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Luke Durbridge and Matthew Hayman (Mitchelton-Scott) and Thomas Boudat (Direct Energie). At km 25, the peloton stopped chasing and gave them the green light for a long lasting breakaway. It was a very fast first hour of racing with 48.8km covered. UAE Emirates, Groupama-FDJ and Bora-Hansgrohe kept the distance between the leading five and the peloton around 1’30’’ until Michael Gogl and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) and Sep Vanmarcke (EF) attacked from the peloton at km 65, just before the crash involving stage 17 winner Nairo Quintana (Movistar). Calm was reinstated after the storm and sprinters’ teams were back in control. The maximum time gap was recorded at km 81: 2’21’’.
All together with 16.5km to go
Rory Sutherland and Darwin Atapuma (UAE Team Emirates), Tobias Ludvigsson (Groupama-FDJ) and Anthony Perez (Cofidis) were the most active riders at the helm of the peloton. The five leading riders waited for the last hour of racing to seriously speed up. Their advantage was down to 30’’ with 22km to go. It was all together again after the côte d’Anos 16.5km before the finish in Pau. The Groupama-FDJ team was the most visible after the regrouping. Bora-Hansgrohe took over in the last 10km.
First French sprint double since 1978
Jacopo Guarnieri managed to get Arnaud Démare back in an ideal position to launch his sprint 250 metres before the line. The Frenchman fended off his compatriot Christophe Laporte. The time French sprinters took the first two positions since Jacques Esclassan ahead of Yvon Bertin who preceded Belgians Freddy Maertens and Walter Planckaert in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux 40 years ago. Therefore, despite a difficult time in the Pyrenees and the second last place in stage 17, Démare confirmed his win in Vittel last year. The last French sprinter to bag two Tour de France sprint victories was Jean-Patrick Nazon in 2003 and 2004.
