Preview Stage 18 – Tour de France 2024
This Tour de France stage from Gap to Barcelonette is ideal for a breakaway group. It’s too tough for the sprinters and not tough enough for the GC contenders. Once the breakaway is formed and no rider from the top ten to fifteen is in it, the breakaway will be given free rein by these two “interest groups.” The route includes a total of five third-category climbs.
Stage 18 | 18 July | Gap to Barcelonette | 179 km | 3,100 m elevation gain
The riders will have Mont Ventoux “behind them” as they cover nearly 180 kilometers from Gap to Barcelonette. While the shortest route between these cities is just 66 kilometers, Stage 18 takes a northern detour, reaching the summit of Col du Festre (3.9 kilometers at 6.3 percent) after 32 kilometers.
Following a long descent, the riders will tackle the Côte de Corps (2.1 kilometers at 7.2 percent). The route then turns southeast, heading to the intermediate sprint in Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur at kilometer 84.3.
Shortly after the halfway point, the stage will remain hilly until just before the finish, except for a brief passage over the Lac de Serre-Ponçon dam.
The riders will then face Col de Manse (5.1 kilometers at 3.6 percent), Côte à Saint-Apollinaire (7 kilometers at 5.5 percent), and Côte de Demoiselles Coiffées (3.6 kilometers at 5.4 percent) at roughly 20-kilometer intervals. After descending, they will climb again for 25 kilometers through Le Lauzet-Ubaye and Les Thuiles before the final five relatively flat kilometers to the finish.
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The stage from Gap to Barcelonette offers another prime, and likely final, opportunity for the breakaway riders. Therefore, the battle for a spot in the breakaway will be fierce. Similar to Stage 17, it might take a while before the breakaway is established and no team decides to chase it down.
Despite the 3,100 meters of elevation gain over 179 kilometers, classic riders and monument winners like Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert, Jasper Stuyven, and Matej Mohoric have excellent chances of taking the stage win. Riders like Michał Kwiatkowski, Stefan Küng, and the tireless but unlucky Ben Healy are also strong contenders.
Once the breakaway is established, the peloton will likely have a relatively quiet day. It’s the calm before the storm of Stage 19, where the race will reach great heights in the Alps.
Stage 18 Classifications
Sprint Points
- Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur | Kilometer 84.3
King of the Mountains
- Col du Festre | Category 3 | Kilometer 32.2
- Côte de Corps | Category 3 | Kilometer 57.5
- Col de Manse | Category 3 | Kilometer 97.3
- Côte de Saint-Apollinaire | Category 3 | Kilometer 121
- Côte des Demoiselles Coiffées | Category 3 | Kilometer 139.1
Header Image: © ASO