Favorites stage 18 Tour de France 2024

"We dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig. From early morn 'til night" Snow White and her seven dwarfs sang it already, but this maxim also applies to the participants of La Grande Boucle after three tough weeks of the Tour de France. This last Thursday features another tricky stage and IDLProCycling.com will tell you everything you need to know!

Route stage 18 Tour de France 2024

Favorites stage 18 Tour de France 2024 | Upper-leg bonanza with brutal altimeters

The riders start Thursday in Gap, just like Pau, a well-known name in the Tour de France. From there, the riders tackle a 179.5-kilometer stage, cleverly packed by the organizers with 3100 meters of total climbing. For context, Wednesday’s stage covered 2850 meters of elevation over 177.8 kilometers.

Naturally starting in the Hautes-Alpes, the riders face an immediate uphill battle. They’ll need to jockey for position right from the start behind the race director Christian Prudhomme's car, as the road quickly rises 2.8 kilometers at a gradient of about 4.6%. This early climb offers the stronger climbers and punchers a chance to establish themselves in the breakaway group for the day.

Leaving La Freissinouse, the course dips slightly as it approaches the day's first major climb, the Col du Festre. Stretching 3.9 kilometers with a 6.3% gradient, this climb is demanding, and it's the cumulative ascent that will really test the riders. The stage features five categorized climbs in total, all rated third category by the ASO.

Post-Festre, the peloton descends to the foot of the Cote de Corps, a 2.1-kilometer climb at a 7.2% gradient, which wouldn't look out of place in the Ardennes. The route continues to undulate, including an intermediate sprint in Saint-Bonnet-em-Champsaur, and the Col de Manse, a gentler climb of 5.1 kilometers at 3.6%. The day’s toughest challenge, the Cote de Saint-Apollinaire, arrives later with its peak 58 kilometers from the finish, scaling seven kilometers at an average incline of 5.5%.

After this, only the Cote des Demoiselles Coiffées (3.6 kilometers at 5.4 percent) remains as a categorized climb, forty kilometers from the finish in Barcelonnette. What might that last hour of racing look like? It's a steady climb upwards, essentially. There are still just under three hundred meters of elevation to be conquered, but at a very slow pace.

Three hundred meters from the finish, there's a turn, after which the finish line lies in a gentle curve to the right. Here, timing is crucial, both in the scenario of a (reduced) bunch sprint and a sprint with a smaller group.

Climbs
32.2 km: COL DU FESTRE (3.9 km at 6.3%)
57.5 km: CÔTE DE CORPS (2.1 km at 7.2%)
97.3 km: COL DE MANSE (5.1 km at 3.6%)
121.0 km: CÔTE DE SAINT-APOLLINAIRE (7.0 km at 5.5%)
139.1 km: CÔTE DES DEMOISELLES COIFFÉES (3.6 km at 5.4%)

Times
Start: 1:20 PM
Finish: around 5:43 PM

Weather stage 18 Tour de France 2024

Thursday is another hot day in France, with the sun shining all day at a temperature of 32 degrees Celsius. The wind is coming from the west and will be at the riders' backs in the finale.

Even more elevation gain than Wednesday, but arranged in a totally different manner. Heading towards the ski station, the elevation was clearly hidden in the last part of the stage, but on the way to Barcelonnette, it's more about the first half of the course. And that partially shifts the focus to a different type of rider.

Mathieu van der Poel has openly stated that this is the last day where he sees a realistic chance in this Tour, and he deliberately kept a low profile on Wednesday. Mentioning Van der Poel also brings his big rival, Wout van Aert from Visma | Lease a Bike, into the conversation. The Dutch rider indicated on the rest day that this stage should normally suit him. Their French teammates, Axel Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Christophe Laporte (Visma), will also have this day marked.

Classic types with a strong finish like Van Aert are still in this Tour. Consider Biniam Girmay, the green jersey from Intermarché-Wanty who is still battling with Jasper Philipsen for this jersey, or Arnaud De Lie from Lotto-Dstny, who, with someone like Victor Campenaerts by his side, would also like to take this opportunity.

Others to mention are Magnus Cort (Uno-X), Marijn van den Berg (EF), Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R) Alex Aranburu (Movistar), Axel Zingle, Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla), Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) and Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies), the winner of the gravel stage in that list.

Then there are those who will likely need a solo effort and can ride hard both on the flat and uphill. In this context, you quickly think of the men who have so often been at the forefront in this Tour: Oier Lazkano (Movistar), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ), and Jonas Abrahamsen from Uno-X. Eager with their strength, sometimes even too eager?

Anyway, in a stage like this, you could go on for a while. The GC contenders will still keep their powder dry with a tough weekend ahead, but for the rest, this is still a golden opportunity. From climbers like Richard Carapaz (EF) and Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla) to notorious powerhouses like Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech), Toms Skujins (Lidl-Trek) and Dorian Godon (Decathlon AG2R). And many others, but for a change, no Tadej Pogacar.