2015 Tour de France results and standings, Stage 18: Romain Bardet wins breakaway

Romain Bardet took the sharp hairpin turns of Les Lacets de Montvernier with supreme confidence, holding of a charging group of eight riders to win Stage 18 in Saint Jean de Maurienne. Bardet was a pre-Tour de France dark horse candidate to contend for the yellow jersey. He has fallen short of those expectations, but a late win in the Alps makes up for that a bit. The stage win was the first of the 24-year-old Frenchman’s career.

Bardet actually gained time on the chase during his impressive climb, beginning the climb 38 seconds over the pack and finishing at 42 seconds at the start of the final descent into the finish. Bardet’s effort was the highlight of the day over what was yet another ineffectual general classification battle.

Once again, any attacks on Chris Froome were eventually reeled in. Alberto Contador appeared to get away from the yellow jersey group of approximately 20 riders with 45 kilometers remaining, but Contador had too much road to cover and was eventually pulled in. Vincenzo Nibali and Alejandro Valverde made moves just before the lacets, but Froome quickly latched onto their wheels, snuffing out danger.

The general classification contenders finished together, roughly three minutes back. There will be little change in the yellow jersey standings heading into Stage 19.

The most movement was in the King of the Mountains competition. Bardet, Joaquim Rodriguez and Jakob Fuglsang all jumped Froome in the polka-dot jersey standings. Rodriguez and Bardet are tied for the lead at 68 points. Fuglsang might have had grander ambitions, but he crashed when he was nicked by a motorcar at the lead of the chase containing Bardet.