2018 Tour de France Stage 18 Results & Recap
Stage 18 of the 2018 Tour de France is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Démare wins in Pau\nBy Clara Beard
Perseverence through the mountains paid off for French sprinter Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), who won stage 18 of the Tour de France ahead of former teammate, Christophe Laporte (Cofidis).
The win marks the second Tour de France victory for Démare, the first this edition.
“I didn’t fight in the mountains for nothing,” Démare said. “It’s a fantastic reward. In every difficult moment, I only believed in winning a stage. It might sound strange after the hard time I had uphill yesterday, but I’ve got good legs. Before the Tour, I’ve worked hard on my weak point, which is climbing. Several sprinters aren’t here anymore but I never gave up. The support I got from my team, my family, my wife and the spectators tremendously helped me. I kept faith in my ability to win a stage. My Tour is a successful one now.”
Geraint Thomas (SKY) checked off another stage closer to Paris, finishing safely in the bunch.
“It was a stress-free day for us from the tactical point of view,” Thomas said. “We were expecting a lot of attacks at the start to make it worse, then the tension to mount in the finale before the sprint. The first day on a leadership role didn’t change things for me, actually. It was business as usual. We kept doing what we have been doing so far, and the team was great on which was an easy day. I feel confident for tomorrow. We are expecting a lot of attacks: maybe some rivals will try to go on the early break, and for sure there will be some aggressive racing up the Tourmalet and the Aubisque. To overcome the stage we just have to ride together properly, without any excitement nor stress.”
It was a standard race affair after the peloton Trie-sur-Baïse. After just a couple kilometres, Niki Tersptra (Quick Step), Guillaume van Keirsbulck (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Luke Durbridge and Matthew Hayman (Mitchelton-Scott) and Thomas Boudat (Direct Energie) escaped the main bunch to make up the break of the day. UAE Emirates, Groupama-FDJ and Bora-Hansgrohe led the peloton the majority of the way, keeping the breakaway at a tight 1’30”.
The five were caught with 16 kilometres to go when the riders reached the second KOM of the day, the côte d’Anos. From there, Groupama-FDJ took over and delivered Demare to Pau with a clear victory.
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