Tour de France 2025: stage 18 from Vif to Courchevel Col de la Loze – live | Tour de France 2025
Key events
120km to go: Of course, Richard Hirst Theory states that this is all a bit of fun, and that Vingegaard and Pogacar are bound to duke it out on the slopes of today’s final climb, the Col de la Loze. Are you out there, Richard?
120km to go: No, make that six groups on the road.
121km to go: It’s a 35sec lead for the break. There are now four distinct groups on the road. A six-rider group is second: Jegat (Total Energies), Rodriguez (Arkea/B&B), Mas (Movistar), Woods (Israel-PremierTech), Van den Broek (Picnic PostNL), Castrillo (Movistar) and Plapp (Jayco-AlUla).
122km to go: “If UAE let this break go, and give them six, seven minutes, other teams are going to try and protect their GC places,” says Rowe on commentary for TNT Sports.
He says it may appear as if UAE are being put under a lot of pressure, but makes the point that Pogacar’s commanding GC lead gives them plenty of options.
123km to go: We have a 16-rider group at the front now: Roglic, Gall, O’Connor, Arensman, Jorgenson, Muhlberger, Garcia Pierna, Wellens, Woods, Rubio Reyes, Armirail, Leknessund, Storer, Lutsenko, Martinez, Barta.
124km to go: Roglic is informed, via team radio, that UAE Team Emirates are pulling hard on the front. “Don’t waste that much,” he is told of this current attack.
125km to go: Lutsenko and Wellens are now well within sight of a chasing group. That group includes Roglic.
It’s all very active and very fluid, with groups forming and breaking up with regularity.
Congratulations to Lizzie Deignan on a wonderful career, by the way. I was watching on the final straight when she won silver in the women’s road race, behind Marianne Vos, at London 2012. Great memories.
Lizzie Deignan retires from cycling
Lizzie Deignan has announced her immediate retirement from professional cycling after sharing news that she and husband Phil are expecting their third child. The 36-year old former world champion had previously said 2025 would be her final season but has called time on a career in which she recorded 43 professional wins, among them victories at Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Strade Bianche, the Tour of Flanders and the Women’s Tour. Deignan took the world title in 2015, a Commonwealth Games gold medal in 2014 and Olympic silver at the London Games in 2012. (PA Media)
127km to go: Roglic powers away from Van Aert, who is back in a bunch of riders who are off the front of the main group. It’s all strung out, gaps everywhere, with the riders toiling up the first HC climb.
Plenty of excitement in the commentary box about Roglic attacking. He is 12sec behind the front two, Wellens and Lutsenko.
127km to go: Now Van Aert is dropping off the pace at the front. Wellens is the man setting a fierce pace. No one can accuse UAE Team Emirates XRG of just sitting there and waiting to defend attacks …
Back down the road, Roglic attacks!
128km to go: Rutsch has been dropped by the front group. So it’s down to four. Ben O’Connor is between the main group and the break, presumably trying to bridge across. The gruppetto, AKA the autobus, has formed back down the road. There are 48 riders in it. Six Lidl-Trek riders are there including Milan.
The gap between break and peloton is 22sec. And the front group is down to three: Wellens, Van Aert, Lutsenko, with Groves dropped.
129km to go: “I think Jonas needs to go hard, and he needs to go early,” remarks Adam Blythe of today’s potential tactics for Visma-Lease A Bike. “They may be trying a similar tactic that worked for Simon Yates at the Giro.”
130km to go: The race has hit the lower slopes of the first climb, the Col du Glandon.
“Jonas has good legs,” says Frans Maassen on TNT of the Visma team leader’s chances. “We’ll see what’s possible.”
He sounds confident, remarks Hannah Walker.
“Yes, I think so. We’ll see what happens. If not [if they can’t catch Pogacar], we have a deserved winner.”
132km to go: The gap grows to 27sec.
133km to go: Indeed we have a five-rider break established. Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates XRG), Wout Van Aert (Visma–Lease A Bike), Alexey Lutsenko (Israel-PremierTech), Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty).
They have an advantage of 22sec but it looks like there is lots of attacking behind.
136km to go: A group of four chasers – Van Aert, Lutsenko, Groves, Rutsch – have nearly caught Wellens now. So it looks like UAE’s strategy is going to pay off.
Briefly there were four, five groups on the road but it now looks like it’s back to three, including Matteo Vercher (Total Energies) on his own, trying to bridge across to the break.
137km to go: “You start the stage with so much money in your pocket,” Rowe says of this brave move by Wellens. “Every move costs money. And this is looking like an expensive move.”
Rowe is making the point that Wellens is strong enough to get in a break later on.
Personally I can see the sense in Wellens ensuring he gets in any breakaway, but I suppose he could easily come up short later on the final climb, too.
138km to go: Girmay, who has endured a difficult race all round, is pictured racing along at the back of the bunch.
139km to go: Wellens has about 14sec on the bunch.
141km to go: No, sorry, I am quite wrong and Wellens is still out front on his own.
Guillaume Boivin (Israel-PremierTech) is off the back on his own, presumably ill or injured.
Jonathan Milan was also briefly off the back, Luke Rowe fancied it was because he switched to a climbing bike post-sprint.
144km to go: Tim Wellens had about 10sec on the bunch but has been reeled back in now. Right after the sprint, a group of six went clear, but were also gobbled up by the peloton sharpish. Will we see a big escape group, containing plenty of strong climbers, go clear soon?
145km to go: There’s a big split in the bunch. Something like 40 riders up front. Oh, but it looks like it may come back together pretty quickly.
146km to go: Tim Wellens, Pogacar’s teammate, has attacked solo immediately after the sprint point. Presumably UAE Team Emirates XRG want to make double-sure they have someone strong in the breakaway to help Pogacar later?
Milan wins the intermediate sprint
Girmay takes second but it’s hardly even a race for the line. Milan barely has to break a sweat to win it having been set up by his team, and Girmay looks happy to settle for second.
1) Milan
2) Girmay
3) Turgis
4) Abrahamsen
5) Wellens
149km to go: The intermediate sprint at Rioupéroux is coming up in 1.5km. At this stage it looks like no one is going to even bother to challenge Lidl-Trek. (Which would back up De Jongh’s earlier assertion that plenty in the peloton would prefer Milan to win it.)
151km to go: Luke Rowe, a recent competitor in the peloton and a current sports director with Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale, is an excellent pundit and analyst. Sean Kelly, the king of common sense, is also superb with his deep knowledge of the inner workings of a bike race – even if his time in the saddle was somewhat longer ago.
153km to go: The camera zooms in on Roglic, riding comfortably along in the peloton. How will his Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe teammate, Florian Lipowitz, fare in this massive last block of climbing? Will we see the benefits of the stamina that Roglic has built up over the years compared to his younger, less experienced teammate?
154km to go: Today’s first big climb, the Col du Glandon, is 21.7km long with an average gradient of 5.1%. The summit comes at 62.3km.
Secondly, the top of the Col de la Madeleine (19.2km at 7.9% average) comes after 104.6km.
Last but not least, the Col de la Loze (26.4km (!!!) at 6.5%) is the final boss level.
By the way the Col du Glandon is 1,924m altitude, the Madeleine 2,000m, the Col de la Loze is 2,304m.
156km to go: Quinn Simmons, who produced a monster ride for Lidl-Trek yesterday in helping to set up Milan for his second stage win of the Tour, is riding fifth wheel. Quite right to give him a bit of a breather.
158km to go: There are 80pts available in the KOM competition today. Before a looming battle royale in the mountains, Lidl-Trek are setting up Milan for a handy 20pts at the early intermediate sprint. The average speed today is pushing 50km/h. (It is 49.1km/h).
162km to go: In 2023, Vingegaard all but sealed the overall as Pogacar cracked on the Col de la Loze. Those memories will provide a bit of encouragement for Visma-Lease A Bike today.
“As we’ve seen in the past, it can change very, very quickly,” observes Kelly in the commentary box. “If you’re little bit off your best today, that can be a disaster for you.”
166km to go: Lidl-Trek continue to boss it for their sprinter, Jonathan Milan, the whole team massed at the front and driving the pace. The telly helicopter shows the peloton snaking through a picturesque valley with the mountains in the middle distance.
On the team radio, Lidl-Trek sports director Steven de Jongh indulges in what I presume is a bit of banter, saying that there are a lot of teams who would rather see the green jersey go to a sprinter: that is their man Milan.
He doesn’t mention Pogacar but we all know what he’s talking about.
167km to go: Cyril Barthe (Groupama-FDJ) has also abandoned today, along with Rodriguez of Ineos Grenadiers. An early Barthe.
169km to go: Lidl-Trek are massed at the front of the fast-moving peloton, seeking to control affairs until the intermediate sprint at Rioupéroux, that comes after just 23.7km.
“This is going to be a real day,” says Sean Kelly on commentary. It’s hard to argue with that.
“For the GC contenders it’s a real, real test.”
Stage 18 begins
The flag is waved and just like that, the race has begun.
“Hi Luke,” writes Alex on email. Hello Alex.
“I’ve joined the sad crew of people having to work in an office today so am unable to secretly have TNT or ITV on in the background. I’ll be following your updates avidly on this day of days that will, hopefully, go down in tour history.
“After Tuesday, I can see it going both ways. Has Tadej been bluffing strength and is he struggling in week three? If so he will be found out today in potentially extraordinary fashion. But equally, has he been focusing on building some allies in the peloton and let down by a relatively weak team incapable of chasing down breakaways, if so then he will surely want revenge on the Col De La Loze.
“Or maybe, they’ll just mark each other out – boring! Either way pleased to be with you and the Guardian family of cycling-obsessed procrastinators.”
Courchevel, as any fule kno, is a ski resort. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that some steep climbs will be involved given the riders will finish there. As just mentioned by Luke Rowe and Orla Chennaoui, too, all those steep climbs mean some technical descents. Fierce concentration, along with an ability to handle the burning pain in the legs and body, will be key for every rider in the bunch.
The neutralised rollout has begun. There will be some tired, tired bodies in that bunch as they make their way slowly to the official start.
“Today is another chance,” Jonas Vingegaard tells Matt Stephens. “We will fight until the end. Today is going to be a proper hard stage, and we’ll do everything we can.
“The last, what is it? Five, 6km or so, is super-steep [on the final climb]. Before that, there is a flatter section. In general it’s a very hard climb, a very long climb.
“We just have to keep trying. I am not really looking at that [Pogacar’s form and condition], I am just trying to do something.”
Luke Rowe, on pundit duty for TNT Sports, spoke to Geraint Thomas about Rodriguez’s crash yesterday. “He actually crashed twice yesterday. He got tangled up with Alaphilippe and a few others … he was all right …
“Behind the big crash (1km out), people were reacting. We didn’t see it on the TV but 50metres behind that Carlos crashed.”
Carlos Rodriguez abandons
Contrary to what I wrote earlier, there has been a significant withdrawal this morning. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) is out, having broken his pelvis in a crash yesterday. He was 10th in GC.
That means Jordan Jegat (Total Energies) moves into 10th in GC, +23min 10sec down on the race leader.
What are your expectations for today and for the rest of the Tour? Email me.
It is worth mentioning that the weather is expected to be highly unpredictable for the next couple of days. Riders and teams are going to have to deal with big fluctuations between hot weather lower down and cold conditions up in the mountains.
I fancy that a young man named Primoz Roglic will be a rider to keep an eye on today. Earlier in the race, Roglic said he was pleased to see his teammate Florian Lipowitz riding so strongly.
“I’m happy. I’m really happy,” he said of Lipowitz after stage 12 on the Hautacam, when the German rider sailed away on that final climb to finish third. “I hope he keeps the level to the finish.”
It would be fascinating to know what is being said in the Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe team briefing this morning. Presumably Roglic, while being willing to help Lipowitz, also believes he could still finish on the podium himself?
There are only two riders within 10 minutes of Pogacar in the GC, which is astonishing. Here is the top 10 after stage 17:
1) Tadej Pogacar 61hr 50min 16sec
2) Jonas Vingegaard +4min 15sec
3) Florian Lipowitz +9min 03sec
4) Oscar Onley +11min 04sec
5) Primoz Roglic +11min 42sec
6) Kevin Vauquelin +13min 20sec
7) Felix Gall +14min 50sec
8) Tobias Johannessen +17min 01sec
9) Ben Healy +17min 52sec
10) Jordan Jegat (Total Energies) +23min 10sec
The heavy crash leading into yesterday’s sprint finish appears not to have claimed any victims yet. The official abandonments page is blank for today so far.
Happy to say that Biniam Girmay (Intermarché–Wanty), who looked quite badly hurt, has signed on and is ready to go.
(Given the difficult of today’s stage, mind you, anyone carrying an injury may yet be forced to pack it in later.)
Speaking of subplots – perhaps even full plots – there are some negative vibes around the race, after Pogacar and his team were accused of arrogance by rivals.
Jean‑René Bernaudeau, the Total Energies team manager, said: “They’re arrogant towards those who just want to live simply alongside them. I expect their team manager to make that point to them.”
“Arrogance is something, trying to win the Tour de France is another thing,” Pogacar said in response. “I think a lot riders would see us as arrogant because we want to control every single kilometre of this race. We don’t try to be arrogant, we just try to make our race as easy as possible. I think – this will sound super-arrogant – but some guys can stay quiet.”
For the full story, read Jeremy Whittle’s stage 17 report:
Preamble
Today’s stage doesn’t ask the riders for much, unless you count 5,450m of climbing across three hors catégorie mountains on the 171km route. Perhaps the more significant figure is 14,000: the sum total in metres of vertical ascent in four stages remaining (4,550m tomorrow, 2,990m on Saturday and 1,100m on Sunday, added to 5,450m today).
It will be gruelling, brutal, epic, punishing, attritional – take your pick. It might even be dramatic if Jonas Vingegaard and Visma-Lease A Bike can isolate the race leader, Tadej Pogacar, and take a chunk or two out of his commanding 4min 15sec lead in the general classification. The Col du Glandon, Col de la Madeleine and Col de la Loze must all be tackled by the peloton today: the sheer length and difficulty of the stage promises another rich self-contained narrative within the context of one of the toughest Tours in history. No doubt, Vingegaard’s team have created a plan for how they might launch attacks on Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates most effectively.
A successful Visma counterattack is not beyond the bounds of possibility but given Pogacar’s flying form, it feels more likely the reigning champion will roll with the punches, yet again, and take another significant step towards glory in Paris.
This being the Tour de France there will be subplots aplenty. The battle to form the breakaway will be fierce, with the 15 teams that remain empty-handed particularly motivated, while the race for the podium and top 10 in GC is very much on. Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek, who won yesterday to forge a 72-point lead over Pogacar in the green jersey standings, will merely be aiming to make the time cut, hoping a stage win for the Slovenian doesn’t reignite the points classification race.
It’s going to be emotional. Are you ready? Allez!
Stage start: 11.20 UK time / 12.20 local time
