Ben O'Connor claimed victory in the queen stage of the Tour de France. The early breakaway that the Australian was part of was caught early, but in the valley approaching the Col de la Loze, O'Connor broke away again from the watchful favorites. That cautious approach continued on the final climb, where Jonas Vingegaard waited until the penultimate kilometer to attack. However, Tadej Pogacar responded easily, countered Vingegaard, and gained some extra time on the Dane.
Vif was the starting location of the grueling eighteenth stage. This stage began with 60 kilometers of false flat without any categorized climbs, followed by three hors catégorie climbs. First the Col du Glandon (21 km at 5.2%), then the tough Col de la Madeleine (19.3 km at 7.8%), and finally the Col de la Loze, the longest climb of the day at 26.5 kilometers at 6.4%. The big question beforehand was whether Jonas Vingegaard and Visma | Lease a Bike could still trouble the seemingly untouchable Tadej Pogacar.
Leading up to the Col du Glandon, we didn’t immediately see a breakaway form. This was largely due to Lidl-Trek’s control, which wanted to keep things together until the first intermediate sprint. Jonathan Milan could then seize maximum points there. Indeed, the Italian was first to cross the line, extending his lead in the competition for the green jersey by twenty points over his closest rival Tadej Pogacar. After the intermediate sprint, the difference was 92 points.
Roglic attacks on Glandon
Right after that intermediate sprint, the racing kicked off. Lidl-Trek disappeared from the front and the attackers sprang into action. Among them were Wout van Aert and Tim Wellens. The latter rode briefly ahead of the pack alone, after which Van Aert, Alexey Lutsenko, Jonas Rutsch, and Kaden Groves bridged across. The five started the Glandon with a lead, but behind them it was still very lively. One after another tried to catch up.
An active Tim Wellens – photo: Cor Vos
Once on the Glandon, the breakaway group quickly splintered. Only Lutsenko could keep up with Wellens’s scorching pace; the rest—including Van Aert—fell back. Even more interesting was what happened in the peloton: none other than Primoz Roglic went on the attack. Initially, Matteo Jorgenson went with the fifth-placed GC rider, but then the Slovenian rode on alone towards Wellens and Lutsenko.
Arensman and Jorgenson lead
More riders then joined, including Thymen Arensman, the aforementioned Jorgenson, polka-dot jersey wearer Lenny Martinez, and GC contender Felix Gall. However, the breakaway group, which initially numbered fifteen, thinned out again higher up on the Glandon. Martinez also struggled with Bruno Armirail’s pace but, helped by an especially long sticky bidon, managed to summit first. The Frenchman outsprinted Arensman.
However, during the subsequent descent, the Dutchman created a gap along with Matteo Jorgenson. At the foot of the Madeleine, the two had over half a minute advantage on the first chasers: Roglic, Wellens, Gall, Armirail, Lutsenko, Ben O'Connor, Alex Baudin, Einer Rubio, and Raúl García Pierna. The pace in that group was too high for Wellens and Lutsenko, but the rest rejoined Arensman and Jorgenson after a few kilometers of climbing.
Visma takes control
The lead over the peloton at that point was three minutes. Visma | Lease a Bike, represented by Van Aert and then Tiesj Benoot had taken over the front from UAE Emirates XRG. The pace set by the latter was too high for Kévin Vauquelin: the sixth-placed GC rider had to drop out of the favorites’ group before the climb was halfway done. Victor Campenaerts was still with the group at that time and was the next to lead the Visma train. Now the pace was too much also for ninth-placed Ben Healy. When Campenaerts cracked with 6.6 kilometers remaining to the summit, the group was down to just twelve riders.
Visma | Lease a Bike had plans – photo: Cor Vos
After Simon Yates took a turn on the front, Sepp Kuss really went on the offensive. Only Vingegaard, Pogacar, and—barely—Lipowitz could follow the American. Kuss’s acceleration set up an attack from Vingegaard, who launched his own move with five kilometers to go. Only Pogacar remained on his wheel. The two stars rode straight up to the breakaway group, where Jorgenson was now leading. This was the death blow for Arensman. Of the early breakaway riders, only Roglic, Gall, Rubio, and O'Connor remained at the summit. Incidentally, Vingegaard was first over the top after overtaking his teammate Jorgenson in the final meters.
Lipowitz gifted more than two minutes
Jorgenson then led the descent. The gap to Lipowitz (who caught up to Arensman) grew to 45 seconds, but once downhill, Jorgenson stopped working and the elite group ground to a halt. O'Connor then decided to go on the attack. Rubio jumped across, as did Jorgenson. The three quickly built a big lead on the group behind, where Lipowitz and Arensman joined with forty kilometers to go. Arensman immediately tried to attack, but Vingegaard wouldn't let that happen.
The Dane from Visma | Lease a Bike let Lipowitz go. The German started the Col de la Loze with nearly three minutes advantage on the chasers—where there was a lot of stop-and-go—while the trio of Rubio, O'Connor, and Jorgenson had nearly four minutes over Pogacar and co. At the foot of the final climb, a large group of dropped riders rejoined the yellow jersey group, including several riders from Visma | Lease a Bike and UAE Emirates XRG. Also, various riders from Picnic PostNL, who immediately pushed the pace for Onley.
O'Connor goes solo
While Jorgenson quickly dropped off the front, UAE took the initiative in the favorites’ group from Picnic PostNL just as fast. When Soler had no gas left shortly after, Visma | Lease a Bike took over again. The Dutch team saw Jorgenson fall back to Lipowitz with twenty kilometers of climbing left, who in turn also lost ground—both compared to the leaders and the favorites’ group. Among the leaders, O'Connor dropped Rubio with sixteen kilometers remaining. The Jayco AlUla rider still had over three minutes on the yellow jersey group at that moment.
The spent Jorgenson, who had to let Lipowitz go, dropped back into this group but could do nothing against Vingegaard. Simon Yates pulled long turns up front, but O'Connor continued to extend his lead. The gap only started to shrink when Jhonatan Narváez took over for Yates on behalf of UAE. But it was just a matter of seconds. While Lipowitz was caught again, O'Connor kept pushing hard. And he would hold on to the finish. The Australian notched his second stage win ever in the Tour de France, having previously taken victory in the mountain stage to Tignes in 2021.
Favorites wait long
Among the GC contenders, it remained stalemate for a long time. Due to the pace of Adam Yates, who had replaced Narváez, dropped off one by one. Lipowitz also had to give up. With three kilometers remaining, only Pogacar, Vingegaard, Onley, Gall, and Roglic were still on Yates’s wheel. Gall was the next to drop. Shortly after, Vingegaard launched an attack, but alongside Pogacar, Onley could follow as well. In the final kilometer, Pogacar himself briefly ramped up the tempo.
The Slovenian then gained just a few seconds on Vingegaard and also earned six bonus seconds, while the Dane had to settle for four seconds. With just one mountain stage left, the gap between the two titans was nearly four and a half minutes.
Vif) Courchevel Col de la Loze)
Lipowitz went from chaser to attacker – photo: Cor Vos
Ben O'Connor – photo: Cor Vos
Tour de France| Rank | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 05:03:47 | |
| 2 | + 01:45 | |
| 3 | + 01:54 | |
| 4 | + 01:58 | |
| 5 | + 02:00 | |
| 6 | + 02:25 | |
| 7 | + 02:46 | |
| 8 | + 03:03 | |
| 9 | + 03:09 | |
| 10 | + 03:26 |
