(Reuters) -Lotto–Dstny rider Victor Campenaerts timed his attack perfectly in a three-man sprint to the finish to win Thursday’s stage 18 of the Tour de France, a 179.5 km hilly stage from Gap to Barcelonnette.
Campenaerts was in the leading trio with Michal Kwiatkowski and Matteo Vercher, with the Belgian biding his time behind the other two riders before exploding into a powerful sprint in the final 200 metres to take his first ever Tour stage win.
Campenaerts, Kwiatkowski and Vercher broke away and surged ahead about 35 km from the finish and the trio kept the pressure on as a group of five riders attempted to catch up.
But they managed to hold the chasing pack at bay with a comfortable pace up front until the final sprint where Campenaerts hung back while Kwiatkowski led, constantly looking over his shoulder.
Campenaerts eventually kicked into gear to overtake both riders who gave chase in vain as Vercher, who crashed earlier in the neutral zone at the start of the stage, finished second and Kwiatkowski third.
The chasing pack with riders such as Jai Hindley and Wout Van Aert eventually crossed the line 22 seconds behind.
Tadej Pogacar and the yellow jersey group finished nearly 14 minutes behind as they played it safe and conserved their energy ahead of the next two mountain stages.
Slovenian Pogacar retained the yellow jersey and leads Jonas Vingegaard by three minutes and 11 seconds.
The Tour now heads into the Alps and Friday’s stage 19 is a 145 km ride from Embrun to Isola 2000.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in BengaluruEditing by Toby Davis)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibilty for its content.