Stage 18 Breakdown:

Stage 18 take the riders on another hilly 179km trip from Gap to Barcelonnette. The entire stage is more or less up and down with few flat areas to rest. The riders are faced with five 3rd category climbs, and a total elevation gain of around 3100m.

The final 3rd category climb is passed with 40km still to go, and despite the remaining terrain not being flat, it doesn’t provide enough challenges for any GC fights. This opens the door for a possible breakaway day, something many teams likely will be very interested in taking advantage of. Expect a hard opening pace with strong fights to get into the breakaway.

Favorites:
| +++ | Wout van Aert, Mathieu v.d. Poel
| ++ | Magnus Cort, Ben Healey, Oier Lazkano
| + | Jasper Stuyven, Michael Matthews

TourManager:
Etappe 18 er en kupert etappe på 179km i utkanten av alpene. Ettersom det ikke er den hardeste etappeprofilen, og det er 40km igjen av etappen etter siste 3. kategori, åpner det muligheten for en bruddetappe. Mange lag som ikke kjemper i sammenlagtkampen, og heller ikke har en etappeseier, vil trolig være veldig interessert i denne etappen. Forvent en hard kamp mellom lagene om å få ryttere med i det avgjørende bruddet.

Tune in for more stage by stage analysis, and predictions to come!