119km to go Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), who is currently seventh in the GC standings, has snuck into the big lead group ahead of the peloton. Lidl-Trek have the two riders ahead of the Frenchman in the top ten, will they work to bring thing back?<\/p>\n
Share<\/a>Paret-Peintre takes the lead in the mountains classification<\/p>\n The Soudal Quick-Step rider has the sprint to beat Richard Carapaz at the top of the climb and takes the first five polkadot points of the day. Paret-Peintre has overtaken Pogacar at the top of the standings, for now.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 124km to go A very large group has moved clear of the peloton, there are 42 riders in there but none of the main GC contenders.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 125km to go The peloton is already being watered down as the sprinters drop off the back. The four-man break has been neutralised.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.25 EDT<\/p>\n 126km to go Sean Quinn, Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Derek Gee (Lidl-Trek) and Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) have attacked. They haven\u2019t pulled away by much, mind.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 127km to go No rest for the wicked, we\u2019re straight on to the category Col Bayard, a 4.8km drag at 7.2%.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Kilometre zero<\/p>\n There\u2019s Christian Prudhomme popping out of the sunroof and waving his little yellow flag, we\u2019re off.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The peloton is on the move, next stop kilometre zero.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Pogacar is in black shorts, repeat black shorts.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n We\u2019re a couple of minutes away from the rollout in Gap.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n There are no reports that Pogacar is feeling any ill-effects today but it remains to be seen how fit the rest of his UAE Team Emirates XRG are. This could be mind games, but Paul Seixas turned up for the stage presentation in a medical mask. Luke Rowe, Decathlon\u2019s sporting director, has just poppped up on TNT predicting an explosive start to the stage, it seems the peloton smells blood.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Tour de France worries emerge for Pogacar after illness sweeps through team<\/p>\n Richard Carapaz won stage 18 of the Tour de France<\/a> after a breakaway group of six riders duelled their way to the winter sports station at Orci\u00e8res-Merlette, but uncertainty surrounds the health of race leader Tadej Pogacar\u2019s UAE Team Emirates XRG, which has been swept by a virus since Monday\u2019s rest day.<\/p>\n After Adam Yates\u2019s stage-long calvary on the road to Voiron, Pogacar\u2019s team was further weakened by the abandonment of his American colleague, Brandon McNulty, who quit the Tour with 21km of Thursday\u2019s stage remaining.<\/p>\n Two more of Pogacar\u2019s teammates, Tim Wellens and Florian Vermeersch, also appeared to struggle at times during the stage, which included five categorised climbs, including the final seven-kilometre ascent to the finish.<\/p>\n Speaking at the stage start in Voiron, Wellens suggested other riders within the team were unwell and revealed that he had a sore throat. Seen through the lens of Friday and Saturday\u2019s mountain-top finishes on Alpe d\u2019Huez, Pogacar, despite his 4m 32s lead over second-placed Remco Evenepoel, has reason to be worried.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sad that Brandon could not finish. We will see in the next two days but Adam is getting better, and tomorrow, we will go with the flow,\u201d Pogacar said. \u201cI think we can manage. It\u2019s the third week, all the teams are suffering. There are bodies everywhere on a stage like today. We will keep fighting and I believe we can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Read Jeremy Whittle\u2019s full report from stage 18:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Here\u2019s the official visualisation of what the riders are taking on today:<\/p>\n Allow Instagram content?<\/p>\n This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>William Fotheringham’s stage guide This Tour\u2019s most prestigious mountain stage finish; with a stage this short, it will be touch and go for the day\u2019s escape to make it to the finish. That said, the opening 25km over the Cols Bayard and du Noyer are tough enough to allow a decent move to get established and then there are 60km until the Col d\u2019Ornon, where Pogacar and Vingegaard will probably get their teams moving. If the big two give a move some leeway, the 21 hairpins to the finish will suit a pure climber such as Netcompany\u2019s Thymen Arensman, a double stage winner last year.<\/p>\n![\"William](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784896868_102_William_Fotheringham,_L.png\")
William FotheringhamStage 19, Friday 24 July: Gap to l\u2019Alpe d\u2019Huez, 127.9km<\/p>\n