Thrilling victory for Kasper Asgreen on stage 18 of the Tour de France

Typical stage of the third week, starring a breakaway that seems controlled by the teams of the sprinters until, in the final part, the differences are not reduced and the escapees end up bringing to a successful conclusion an adventure that almost never goes well. Thus Kasper Asgreen saves the day for a Soudal-QuickStep that a few stages ago lost Fabio Jakobsen, its main asset.

Fortune smiles on the brave in the Tour

A day of hangover in the Tour de France after the drama lived yesterday on the ramps of the Col de la Loze. A morning that started with the announcement by Jumbo-Visma of the leaving of Wout van Aaert to attend the birth of his daughter as he had already advanced that he would do, if the situation arose, before the start of the race and in full agreement with the team.

Beyond having shone much less than what we are used to, what is undeniable is that the Belgian has once again fulfilled his role as a team man, leading the peloton when he has been required to do so. A priceless role that the squads value as much as having a good leader.

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Yesterday's stage also left us with an intense debate on social networks about the preparation carried out by Tadej Pogacar to face the Tour, especially by many, who made reference to his intense spring calendar, where he has played the classics to the fullest and in which many seek the reasons for his performance in the last two stages, without taking into account that the Slovenian broke his scaphoid just two months before the start of the Tour de France, conditioning his entire preparation.

These debates have not been silenced after the bland stage that the race has given us today, 185 kilometers practically flat, only two small climbs of 4th category, in which, as seen after previous mountain stages, we already imagined that the peloton would take things calmly.

However, the third week of the Tour de France is usually a stage that ends up going to the breakaway because of the lack of strength among those in charge of the sprinters' teams at this stage of the race, but today, not even that.

The stage started and the first attack, right after the start flag, was the one that went to the front. Only 3 cyclists, two of them excellent riders: Kasper Asgreen and Victor Campenaerts, joined by Uno-X rider Jonas Abraahamsen. By the way, remarkable role of this squad in this edition of the Tour de France, a team that year after year is growing and we do not rule out that in a couple of years, when it completes the cycle, it will be knocking on the door of the World Tour.

Only the arrival of the second climb, 79 km from the finish line, took us out of our stupor. With the peloton just 30 seconds behind the escapees, there were a few attempts to get to the front, but none prospered, and calm returned once we reached the top. It was then that we saw a curious situation, with Pascal Eenkhoorn jumping suddenly, looking to give Lotto-Dstny the majority in the breakaway but, despite the small gap, failed to connect, at which point Campenaerts took the decision to drop out of the breakaway to help get him in front. They managed to link up, but at the cost of a big effort.

With four members, the breakaway gained new strength and brought the advantage back up to a minute in a hard battle against Alpecin-Deceuninck, who tried to keep them in range looking for the hand of Jasper Philipsen. However, as we mentioned before that usually happens in the third week, fatigue is noticeable and, despite having them within striking distance throughout the finish, the escapees continued to maintain the pulse, taking advantage of the last kilometers on semi-urban terrain that gave them hope of breaking with the script of the stage.

With 5 kilometers to go, they were holding on with just 13 seconds against a peloton that was riding at 60 km/h with a slight headwind. Down to 8 with three thousand meters to go and still not giving up in an intense and exciting agony and in the last kilometer was 6 seconds, when Campenaerts left everything in a last final push, working for Eenkhorn who was sharpening the knife when suddenly Kasper Asgreen started strongly. The Lotto-Dstny rider caught his wheel easily but paid for the effort of the last kilometers and could not catch the Soudal-QuickStep rider, a team that takes a huge weight off its shoulders since, after the abandonment of Jakobsen and the failed attempts of Alaphilippe, they already saw that they were leaving this Tour de France empty-handed.

Stage 18 Classification

1. Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-QuickStep) 4h06’48’’
2. Pascal Eenkhorn (Lotto-Dstny) +00’’
3. Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X) +00’’
4. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +00’’
5. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) +00’’
6. Cees Bol (Astana) +00’’
7. Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) +00’’
8. Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) +00’’
9. Chistophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) +00’’
10. Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-Samsic) +00’’

Overall Classification

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 72h04’39’’
2. Tadej Pocagar (UAE Team Emirates) +07’35’’
3. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +10’45’’
4. Carlos Rodríguez (INEOS Grenadiers) +12’01’’
5. Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) +12’19’’
6. Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) +12’50’’
7. Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +13’50’’
8. Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën) +16’11’’
9. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) +15’49’’
10. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +17’57’’