Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb) won Stage 18 in impressive fashion, pushing the final ascent on the Col d'Izoard to take his second stage victory at the 104th Tour de France and secure the polka dot jersey as King of the Mountains.
5 kilometers after the departer in Briancon, a four-rider group, consisting of Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie) Elie Gesbert (Fortuneo-Oscaro), and Alessandro De Marchi (BMC), made a move off the lead group as the peloton split into two groups.
After only 10 kilometers however, the leading four would be caught as a new 54-rider front group formed ahead of the peloton.
On the first categorized climb of the day at the Cote de Desmoiselles Coiffees, Thomas de Gendt and Lilian Calmejane tested their luck once again, breaking away from the large lead group, which held a 5' advantage on the chase pack.
Thomas de Gendt would hold on to the summit of the Cote de Desmoiselles Coiffees and take two points in the King of the Mountains competition.
73 kilometers into the day a smaller group of seven riders, made up of Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie), Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data), Gianluca Brambilla (Quick-Step Floors), Simon Clarke (Cannondale-Drapac), Florian Vachon (Fortuneo-Oscaro), Angelo Tulik (Direct Energie), and Ben Swift (UAE Team Emirates), broke away from the front group to form their own lead pack.
The seven-rider lead pack would soon be brought back by the chase group, as Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) took charge of the stage's intermediate sprint in Les Thuiles, moving the Italian rider into third place in the points classification.
With under 60 kilometers the lead group began to split once again, as a 25-rider group pushed to pace and broke away from the remaining 29 riders.
On the climb to the summit of the Col de Vars, Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Darwin Atapuma (UAE Team Emirates), and Romain Sicard (Direct Energie) set the tempo, with Lutsenko being the first to reach the top of the climb and take 10 points in the mountains classification.
At 27 kilometers to go to the finish in Izoard, Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Daniel Navarro (Cofidis), Romain Hardy (Fortuneo-Oscaro), and Tsgabu Grmay (Bahrain-Merida), joined Gallopin, Lutsenko, Atapuma, and Sicard at the front, as the new lead group of 8 held a 6' lead on the chase pack.
15 kilometers from the finish, Alexey Lutsenko went solo, as the Astana rider was soon chased down by Navarro, Gallopin, and Atapuma.
Soon Atapuma would drop Navarrro and Gallopin in the early kilometers of the ascent up the Col d'Izoard, sitting 20'' back of Lutsenko 7 kilometers from the summit.
Darwin Atapuma pulled ahead of Lutsenko with 5 kilometers remaining, but was caught by the chase with under 2 kilometers to go to the summit, as Warren Barguil pushed past Atapuma as the yellow jersey group closely followed.
Warren Barguil would end up holding his lead to the summit, as the French rider captured his second stage victory at the 104th Tour de France, and all but secured the polka dot jersey as the King of the Mountains as long as he finishes the final three stages within the time cutoffs.
Columbian rider Darwin Atapuma would hold on to take second on Columbia's National Day, as Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) finished third to take the 4'' time bonus ahead of yellow jersey holder Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac).
Chris Froome will keep the yellow jersey after Stage 18, and will hold a 23'' advantage over second place rider Romain Bardet and a 29'' advantage over Rigoberto Uran. Fabio Aru (Astana) could not hold the pace at the end, and dropped to fifth place and 1'55'' back of Froome as Froome's Team Sky teammate Mikel Landa moved into fourth in the general classification standings.
Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) retained the green jersey, holding onto his massive 160 point margin over Andre Greipel in the points classification.
Warren Barguil secured the polka dot jersey after winning Stage 18, and just has to finish the final three stages within the time cutoffs to wear the polka dot jersey in Paris as King of the Mountains.
Simon Yates (Orica-Scott) remains as the best young rider, despite losing 1'30'' to second place Louis Meintjes (UAE Team Emirates.
Team Sky is once again the leader of the team classification, ahead of AG2R La Mondiale, going into Stage 19.
Riders will now leave the mountains, as Stage 19 will take riders from the town of Embrun to the city of Salon-de-Provence, near the Mediterranean Sea, in the south of France.
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