Frenchman Romain Bardet moved into the top ten and delivered a second victory to the host nation after soloing to success in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in stage 18 of the Tour de France, writes Felix Lowe.
Bardet, the pencil-thin 24-year-old climber from Ag2R-La Mondiale, attacked from a splintered breakaway near the summit of the Col du Glandon 40 kilometres from the finish before delivering a downhill masterclass to open up a gap of 40 seconds ahead of the showpiece final climb of the Lacets de Montvernier.
Despite a spirited chase led by fellow Frenchman Pierre Rolland (Europcar), Bardet extended his lead on the 18 twisting hairpin bends to the summit. He then held his nerve on the run down to the Maurienne valley to beat compatriot Rolland by 33 seconds and secure the biggest win of his career in the 186.5km stage from Gap.
Colombian Winner Anacona (Movistar) led a chasing trio containing Bob Jungels (Trek Factory Racing) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) across the line 59 seconds down on Bardet after being dropped by Rolland after the final summit, 10km from the finish.
Having come into a rich vein of form in the Alps, Bardet - sixth in Paris last year - moved into tenth place in the overall standings on a day the main race protagonists largely marked each other out in a relentless battle of attrition over seven climbs en route to finishing in a select huddle 3:02 down on the stage winner.
“It’s a dream for me,” Bardet said after the first Tour stage win of his career. “It was a very tricky start today and getting in the break was very hard. Everyone was pretty tired and I wanted to make the most of that.
“We took on the final climbs in [last month’s] Criterium du Dauphine and so I knew this stage by heart. But the last kilometres still felt like an eternity. The crowds were phenomenal – it was like being in a football stadium.”
Bardet’s win gave a second success for his local French team Ag2R-La Mondiale, who opened their account in the opening week of the race through another Frenchman, Alexis Vuillermoz, at Mur-de-Bretagne in stage eight.
Despite some attacks on the interminable slog of the Glandon by the likes of Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo), Britain's Chris Froome (Team Sky) retained his 3:10 lead over Nairo Quintana (Movistar).
The Colombian's Spanish team-mate Alejandro Valverde lurks a further 59 seconds back in third place ahead of Welshman Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) and Contador, the Giro d’Italia winner from Spain.
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