Lotto Dstny rider Victor Campenaerts claimed his first victory at the Tour de France on Thursday, winning stage 18 from the breakaway.
The 32-year-old was part of a three-rider move, instigated by Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), that went clear of the main breakaway with 40km to go. Together with Tour debutant Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies), the escapees swapped through turns to hold off a chasing group to the finish in Barcelonette.
With 900m to go, Vercher launched his sprint first, before Kwiatkowski took the front, and Campenaerts attacked from behind, 200m from the finish. The Belgian ended up winning by two bike lengths ahead of Vercher in second and Kwiatkowski in third.
As he stood in a huddle of photographers after the line, Campenaerts video-called his girlfriend and one-month-old baby, celebrating with his family, and crying tears of joy.
"The support I have from my girlfriend is incredible," he said afterwards. "She's always there for me. We went for nine weeks at an altitude camp. She was highly pregnant. She gave birth to our son at the bottom of the climb in Granada. She is the hero in this story. I'm so grateful that she made this possible, that the team made this possible."
Campenaerts explained that, following the Spring Classics, he had had a "very difficult time" as contract negotiations stalled with his current Lotto Dstny. "I got ignored for a long time," he said. "I was struggling to finish my training schedules, but I changed my mind. I have a bright future now still in cycling. I became a father and it was blue skies, only blue skies. I started to feel very good on the bike."
The Belgian announced that he will part ways with the team at the end of the season. "It's a super nice way to leave the team," he smiled. "We will celebrate tonight."
It is understood that Campenaerts will join Visma-Lease a Bike on a three-year deal from 2025.
There were no changes to the top 10 in the general classification on stage 18. The race leaders crossed the line almost 14 minutes down.
How it happened
A battle for the breakaway was guaranteed on stage 18, the finally hilly day before the race's mountainous finale. As expected, attacks for the early move came immediately on the road out of Gap, led initially by Israel-Premier Tech's Krists Neilands and the world champion, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
The peloton then came back together, before it was strung out again on the first of five category-three climbs. This time, Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) was at the head of the front group, which also included Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla).
The breakaway swelled, counting 36 riders in total, and settled at around 140km to go, 40km after the flag drop. The mood then eased in the peloton behind, where riders began to reach for their lunch bags.
Not content to bed in until the finish, Healy chose to fire up the front of the race with an attack on the penultimate climb, with 65km to go. His teammate, US champion Sean Quinn, then countered, before Healy tried again to wriggle clear. The Irishman’s efforts, however, were swiftly closed down, and appeared to cost him as he dropped away moments later.
Thirty-three riders remained in the front group when it reached the final categorised climb, where Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) put in his bid for victory.
The former world champion, a stage winner last year, thinned out the breakaway with his attack over the summit, taking Campenaerts and Vercher with him up the road.
The trio stretched out a 40-second gap to the group behind them, and despite a dig from Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), held them off to the line. Campenaerts, in the end, was the fastest in Barcelonette.
The Tour de France now heads to its Queen stage, climbing to over 2,800m altitude on Friday in the French Alps.
Results
Tour de France, stage 18: Gap > Barcelonnette (179.5km)
1. Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Lotto Dstny, in 4:10:20
2. Mattéo Vercher (Fra) TotalEnergies
3. Michał Kwiatkowski (Pol) Ineos Grenadiers, both at same time
4. Toms Skujiņš (Lat) Lidl-Trek, +22s
5. Oier Lazkano (Esp) Movistar
6. Bart Lemmen (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike
7. Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel-Premier Tech
8. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, all at same time
9. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, +37s
10. Michael Matthews (Aus) Jayco AlUla, at same time
General classification after stage 18
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 74:45:27
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +3:11
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +5:09
4. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, +12:57
5. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal-Quick Step, +13:24
6. Carlos Rodríguez (Esp) Ineos Grenadiers, +13:30
7. Adam Yates (GBr) UAE Team Emirates, +15:41
8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +17:51
9. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech, +18:15
10. Santiago Buitrago (Col) Bahrain Victorious, +18:35
