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Quintana triumphs, Bernal advances, Alaphilippe keeps race lead on Tour de France’s first day in the Alps

Michael Woods prominent in the day's breakaway

25-07-2018 Tour De France; Tappa 17 Bagneres De Luchon - Col Du Portet; 2018, Movistar; Quintana Rojas Nairo, Alexander; Col Du Portet;
July 25, 2019
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Nairo Quintana triumphed on the Tour de France’s first day in the Alps, attacking from a breakaway containing Michael Woods to take the solo win and become Movistar’s top racer on GC. Ineos’s Egan Bernal pounced on the famed Galibier to gain 32-seconds on all his rivals and move up to second overall. Woods had his best result of the race, seventh place. Julian Alaphilippe retained his yellow jersey.

The Course
Some were calling Thursday’s fare the queen stage as it served up a trio of legendary climbs: Cat. 1 Col de Vars, HC-rated Col d’Izoard and HC-rated Col du Galibier, the latter of which peaked with 30-km remaining.



The Big Breakaway

Michael Woods, Romain Bardet, Nairo Quintana and Adam Yates were among the fugitives that skipped away after the opening Cat. 3 climb. At the foot of 9.3 km, Col de Vars, the 34-rider group had a 6:15 lead. Tim Wellens took the maximum KOM points to bolster his lead in the polka dot jersey competition.

On 14.2 km, 7 percent Col d’Izoard, Greg Van Avermaet and Julian Bernard dashed away from their breakmates. Woods, Quintana, Yates and Bardet were in a nontet of chasers close behind in the desolate Casse Déserte. In the yellow jersey group, Movistar was whipping up the pace, dropping Dan Martin.

Woods took the fifth most KOM points as his chase group caught Bernard and Van Avermaet before Izoard’s peak.

Galibier

After descending Izoard to Briancon, Galibier rose 23 km at 5.1 percent. Bonus seconds were offered at its crest. After Izoard, Bardet was 18 points behind Wellens in the KOM competition. The Bardet and Wellens groups came together at the foot of Galibier.

Movistar’s pace on Izoard seemed pointless; Ineos took over on Galibier. With 44 km to go, the Woods-Bardet-Quintana group had a 5:00 gap, and it seemed likely the day’s winner would come from the 16-rider bunch.

Woods was part of a escapee subset that flared away early in the climb when it was, in fact, the Col de Lauteret.

With 9 km to climb, there was a further decanting of the front group, with Bardet, Woods and Quintana in a leading quintet. One and a half kilometres later, Quintana bolted on his breakmates.

Quintana tipped over the top of Galibier with a 1:40 gap over Bardet, who nabbed the polka dot jersey.

Just when the GC race was falling asleep, Egan Bernal attacked. Then Geraint Thomas put in a charge, drawing a move from Thibaut Pinot. Alaphilippe was dropped. Thomas, Pinot, Steven Kruijswijk, Richie Porte, Mikel Landa, Emanuel Buchmann and Rigoberto Uran crested together.

The Descent Into Valloire

It was a hairy drop to the finish line. Alaphilippe caught his rivals, although Bernal was still in front. With 2-km to go, Quintana met the rain. In the final straight, Bernal nearly beat Woods to the line.

Quintana’s win means that there are three Movistar riders in the top-10. Alaphilippe leads Bernal by 1:30.

Friday continues in the Alps with the HC Col de l’Iseran and a summit finish up to Tignes.

2019 Tour de France Stage 18
1) Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) 5:34:15
2) Romain Bardet (France/AG2R) +1:35
3) Alexey Lutsenko (Kazakhstan/Astana) +2:28
7) Michael Woods (Canada/EF Education) +4:46

2019 Tour de France GC
1) Julian Alaphilippe (France/Deceuninck-Quick Step) 74:18:49
2) Egan Bernal (Colombia/Ineos) +1:30
3) Geraint Thomas (Great Britain/Ineos) +1:35
4) Steven Kruijswijk (The Netherlands/Jumbo-Visma) +1:47
5) Thibaut Pinot (France/Groupama-FDJ) +1:50
6) Emanual Buchmann (Germany/Bora-Hansgrohe) +2:14
7) Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) +3:54
8) Mikel Landa (Spain/Movistar) +4:54
9) Rigoberto Uran (Colombia/EF Education First) +5:33
10) Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Movistar) +5:58