With Jonas Vingegaard entering Stage 18 of the Tour de France with a huge lead in the general classification, Jumbo-Visma kept its leader out of trouble on Thursday’s sprint stage. Even without Wout Van Aert, who departed the Tour to be with wife who is expecting their second child, Vingegaard maintained his lead of 7 minute and 35 seconds over Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates.
“It was a nice day today,” Vingegaard said. “There wasn't too much stress in the peloton. That is usually the case in stages like this. But the situation today changed that. For us, it is important to stay out of trouble on stages like today. My teammates have kept me in the safe zone throughout the Tour. That gives me a lot of confidence. Today they did it again with flying colors. We were constantly in the front in the final stages.”
A three-man breakaway separated from the peloton early and managed to stay out front for the stage’s 185 kilometers. Kasper Asgreen of Soudal-Quick Step won a furious sprint at the end, surging ahead of the other riders in the breakaway while also holding off a group of chasing sprinters. Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto Dstny) and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) were also in the early break and finished second and third.
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) came the closest to catching the breakaway, but had to settle for fourth and fifth.
Christophe Laporte sprinted into the top-10 for Jumbo-Visma, finishing ninth.
Vingegaard finished 28th on the stage after the box sprint at the end, finishing with many of his teammates in the middle of the peloton and just behind Pogacar in 26th.
Durangoan Sepp Kuss finished in the peloton, in 49th place, to remain ninth overall in the GC. Kuss trails teammate Vingegaard’s leading time of 72:04:39 by 16:49. Only 16 riders are within an hour of Vingegaard’s lead with three stages remaining.
With only a few mountain points available on Stage 18, Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek kept the polka-dot king of the mountain jersey.
The fourth-place finish helped Philipsen keep the green points jersey, and Pogacar held onto the white youth jersey.
Jumbo-Visma also extended its team lead to 15:15 over UAE Team Emirates.
