Bluegrass Endurance: 2025 Tour de France Stage 18 Thoughts

Stage 18 - Vic to Courchevel Col de La Loze - Mountain (5450m Vert)

With the Intermediate Sprint at 23.7 and slightly up hill it was expected that Lidel-Trek was going to keep it quick enough to discourage a break but keep Milan up there for the win - and so it was. With 5K to the sprint they just were ramping it up and stretching out the pack - Ok for the sprinter since once the sprint was past they were going to drop back and work to just finish within the time limit. So the sprint went as expected and even with Girmay on Milan's wheel he could not get by and looked to not really try.

Then it was time for attacks after the sprint and right after were was a small group that kept moving with Quinn, Wellens, WVA but the peloton did not let them go. That said Wellens kept going with 4 more chasing to catch on with a small break before the first climb to make a group of 5 but would not last with the climb of the Glandon (21.7K climb at 5.1%) coming up. There then formed a larger group of 13 up ahead of the peloton that included Roglic but at the top the gap to the Tadej/Jonas group of 23 riders was only 1:48 back and a long descent to go before the next climb which was the Col de Madeline (19.2K at 7.9%). At the front on the descent was UAE and then Visma to get down safe. Also, of note as heard that Quinn was sent back with the other Trek guys to help pull Milan to the finish as if not would be along day and with 2 more long climbs to come he could miss the cut-off if not careful and if he did not have any help. Unlike the Pyrenees the climbs in the Alps are long and you can lose a lot of time.

At the bottom of the Madeline the Yellow jersey group was 3:00 behind Arensman and Jorgenson so with this long climb and the last climb of the Col de La Loze being 26.4K at 6.5% there was a long way to go. Jorgenson up front would be there to help Jonas later if needed. Roglic was not letting the 2 get too far ahead as his group of 6 was still right there just behind early on the climb and would tag on. Let alone with 7 miles still to climb the Tadej/Jonas group was chipping into the lead and was down to only 2:30 behind. As I watched the climb you can just see that the Tadej/Jonas group is so much faster and with 5.5K to the top the gap was only 53 seconds and Sep Kuss went to the front and suddenly it was Kuss, Jonas, Tadej and just hanging on Lipowitz - barely hangin on. This is what Jonas had to do as even with a long way to go he had to pressure Tadej for the long haul and not just in the last K's.

With 4.6 K Jonas put in a move and only Tadej could stay on as they worked ever closer to the front and up there Jonas had a helper in Jorgenson. They caught the front with 4K to go to he bottom of he next limb so was going to be interesting how Mateo played into this as saw Jonas move a little and then sit back in behind Mateo. Not sure this bothered Tadej as no need to chase Mateo and can just hang on as needed and watch Jonas as Mateo a long way back in GC. The race was getting interesting. While most were probably having a hard time breathing you could see Tadej talking to his DS:). The wild card in this was Roglic as if Lipowitz dropped more then Roglic could move up and also Roglic could just work to hang on and not appear to be attacking his teammate.

Mateo was railing the descent of the Madaline to the effect that Lipowitz, who is not a slouch descending, was losing time. Even Tadej radioed Mateo was going full on going down. That said they did not lose the rest of the lead group as it was still 7 riders. As a note as the main group gets close the bottom of the descent the Green Jersey group was not to the top yet of the Madeline and was 24 minutes down - that gap would close some as the lead riders start to climb and the Trek led Green Jersey group will be going downhill.

Once at the bottom but still not officially on the climb there were some attacks to get a small lead with a few others but the fireworks were going to start once the real climb starts but with 4K to the start of the climb the 3 riders off the front only had 2 minutes but it has been seen already that this was not enough with a 26+K climb to come.

Once on the climb with 19.5k to go there were the 2 ahead, 2 more 1:22 back then 14 riders in the Yellow Jersey group 3:12 back. Now it was a matter of Visma was pulling and just waiting on the final push of Jonas as he has to do something to gain some time as do not want to wait till the last climbing day tomorrow. Joans dis have Mateo about 1:40 ahead in the 2nd group of 2. Seemed clear Tadej was playing this smart knowing he had to do nothing and it was all on Jonas. Did not mean he would not go closer to the finish but there was no need for a risky, especially if he was fighting a cold as had been intimated, long attack.

5K to go for O'Connor and a 3:00 lead so the question while watching was if it was enough. Jonas and the other Visma guys were still not pushing so the longer they wait the better for O'Connor. Between them was Rubio who was 1:46 behind O'Connor so there was still a race no matter what Jonas and Tadej did. All that said if the big two wanted to go they could close 3 minutes in 5K.

With about 1.5K to go Jonas went and Tadej had no issues and even Onley hung on. Seemed clear Jonas did not have it to push - maybe holding off till tomorrow but then that also gives Tadej only having to deal with tomorrow. Onley had been dropped caught back on then hung with Jonas and Tadej. They were not going to get O'Connor but would they get Rubio and get more bonus seconds. Well Tadej, like clockwork went with maybe 500K to go and left Jonas - who did maintain to not loose to much and even save 2 seconds by getting the third place bonus seconds as both Tadej and Jonas caught Rubio. But was clear they are the strongest with Tadej just doing that is needed. Will be interesting tomorrow as will he go for it with it being the last mountain stage and with 5 climbs and a 19.1K climb at an avg of 7.2% to finsoh it off there is no rest. As for the sprinters with the Milan, Girmay and Merlier all finishing 42:37 back there was another day like this one ahead with a short 8K to the intermediate sprint then the gruppetto to the finish to be inside the time cut.

Race Highlights: