Nairo Quintana soloed to victory in today’s stage 18 of the 2019 Tour de France. The first big day in the alps saw the Colombian deliver a powerful attack that left the small group of breakaway survivors gasping for air behind him on the slopes of the Galibier. Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) grabbed second on the day and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) took third.
“This a reflection of all the hard work we’ve done,” Quintana said. “Things haven’t gone the way we’d hoped, but we kept at it. We didn’t let ourselves stop pushing.”
Several minutes behind, Egan Bernal (Ineos) also gave a strong showing for Colombian fans. The youth classification leader attacked on the Galibier and pulled himself to second in the GC rankings. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) survived the day and will remain in the yellow jersey, although he was briefly dropped near the top of the Galibier his incredible skill on the descent put him back in contact with the GC group.
Today’s stage was the first of three hard days in the Alps and Quintana, Bardet, and Lutsenko stamped their name on it. Quintana launched his attack at seven kilometers to go to the top of the final climb, 27 kilometers from the stage finish. His acceleration was pretty incredible and he quickly built a gap of 30 seconds. Bardet and Lutsenko formed a chase, then Bardet dropped Lutsenko near the summit, regardless Quintana was gone for good. Quintana ended his stage 18 victory with a 1:35 lead ahead of Bardet. Bardet’s efforts weren’t for naught though, he now holds the Tour de France mountains classification.
Quintana Attacks – Stage 18 – Tour de France 2019
Quintana Summit – Stage 18 – Tour de France 2019
Thomas Attacks – Stage 18 – Tour de France 2019
Alaphilippe Descent – Stage 18 – Tour de France 2019
Last kilometer – Stage 18 – Tour de France 2019
Summary – Stage 18 – Tour de France 2019
2019 Tour de France Results
Stage 18 results
1 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar 5:34:15
2 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:35
3 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:02:28
4 Lennard Kämna (Ger) Sunweb 0:02:58
5 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:03:00
6 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:04:46
7 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First
8 Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos
9 Serge Pauwels (Bel) CCC
10 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:05:18
General classification after stage 18
1 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 75:18:49
2 Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos 0:01:30
3 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos 0:01:35
4 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:47
5 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:50
6 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:14
7 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar 0:03:54
8 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar 0:04:54
9 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First 0:05:33
10 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar 0:05:58