With a gruelling 17 days already under the belt, the peloton will be hit with the first mountain individual time trial since 2004 at the Tour de France, in what could be a deciding day. Join The Roar from 10pm (AEST) for live coverage of Stage 18.
At just 17 kilometres in length, it’s more than half the distance of the other time trial in the tour, but it will no doubt take longer, with climbs left, right and centre.
An opening 4 kilometres of flat road greets the riders coming out of Sallanches, but it all goes uphill from there for the men in lycra.
The next 11 kilometres though, will be some of the most gruelling riding the peloton have had to do all tour – with no one to latch onto, no teammates to back them, and one tough ascent by themselves.
The Côte de Domancy is the first part of the climb, coming in at 9.4 per cent for two and a half kilometres, it is the steepest section of the route.
At 810 metres above sea level, the ascent begins to flatten out a little bit, turning into a much more gradual rise at 5 per cent for the next 4 kilometres, towards the point of Côte de Chozeau.
Almost like a pair of steps heading into the Côte de Chozeau, the climb steepens sharply then flattens out twice before the peak, reaching up towards 8 per cent during some sections.
Finally, after the pain and leg burning of the climb, the final two kilometres of the time trial are all downhill.
Dropping 124 metres, the final descent into the finish is fast, straightforward, and a lifeline for the riders quads.
Chris Froome is still holding onto the leader’s yellow jersey by 2 minutes and 27 seconds coming into the day, following an eventful final portion of Stage 17.
This won’t be a day for the traditional time trial specialists, and the mountain men should find themselves higher than the normal individual events.
It’s hard to see Froome losing yellow, but there is a fair few general classification riders that are at risk of falling behind on the tough steep climbs without support.
The gradient is a rollercoaster for today, with the per centage swinging from anywhere between one and nearly ten at any point of the short ride, meaning rider rhythm and pacing could, and should, be a tough one to control.
Prediction
This one is hard to pick, simply because you don’t know how the variants will affect what riders, and how they’ll adapt to a style of time trial most aren’t used to.
Froome should ride well and pick up a strong finish, but someone like Tom Dumoulin has a lot of potential to push for the win.
Nairo Quintana’s name is being thrown around as a possible stand out today, but his tour has been a little underwhelming considering the hype surrounding him.
I’ll go with any of those three.
Join The Roar for live coverage from 10pm (AEST).
Connor Bennett
Editor
Richie Porte is now just over a minute off second place after starting the day a minute behind fourth. The Australian will have a huge shot at the podium in the coming days.
Connor Bennett
Editor
Well in the end there wasn't a lot changes to the main GC standings, but the time gaps have moved around. Froome increases his lead out to 3:53 from Mollema, who in turn has a 23 second lead over young gun Adam Yates. Fabio Aru had a massive ride today to finish in third, and has jumped up the standings into seventh spot.
Connor Bennett
Editor
Stage 18 results 1. Chris Froome (GBR) - 30'43" 2. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) +21 3. Fabio Aru (Ita) +33" 4. Richie Porte (Aus) +33" 5. Romain Bardet (Fra) +42" 6. Thomas De Gendt (Bel) +1'02" 7. Jon Izaguirre (Spa) +1'03" 8. Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) +1'05" 9. Louis Meintjes (RSA) +1'08" 10. Nairo Quintana (Col) 1'10"
Connor Bennett
Editor
An incredible ride from Tom Dumoulin held him in the winners seat right up till the end of the day, but in the end he walks away with second place. Italian Fabio Aru closes out the podium in third, with a very underrated performance, outclassing and outpacing his much more fancied opponents.
Connor Bennett
Editor
CHRIS FROOME WINS STAGE 18 Dumoulin set a blistering time mid way through the stage, and it looked like no one could touch it after Porte and Quintana went through off the pace, but it's the man in yellow that brings home the bacon with an incredible ride in tough conditions. He's the only man on the day to break under 31 minutes, and he's proven why he's a tour de France champion. Dumoulin said as soon as he came off the bike that he thought no one could beat him today but one man, and that was Froome.
Connor Bennett
Editor
Chris Froome - 30'43" NEW LEADER!! Chris Froome throws everything he has at the final sprint to the finish, and he's flown through 21 seconds ahead of Dumoulin to take the stage win, and increase his lead at the top, a lead that surely won't be taken from him now.
Connor Bennett
Editor
Bauke Mollema - 32'08" +1'03" Mollema slips over a minute behind fellow countryman Dumoulin, but should hold onto second place in the GC standings.
Connor Bennett
Editor
Froome has shot out in the third sector!! He's taken the best time of the day by 15 seconds through the final timing interval
Connor Bennett
Editor
Adam Yates - 32'06" +1'02" Yates comes through a little slower than expected after a strong start, but it is plenty enough to hold onto the white jersey for best young rider.
Connor Bennett
Editor
Adam Yates over the top and on his way down.
Connor Bennett
Editor
Nairo Quintana - 31'53" +48 A disappointing ride from the Colombian, who has had a fairly lacklustre tour overall this year despite the hype surrounding his chances coming into it. Still top ten at the moment though.
Connor Bennett
Editor
Mollema is struggling a touch on the climb, being hit with 8% at the moment and his legs are struggling. Yates has the chance to leap frog him in the standings if he's not careful
Connor Bennett
Editor
Romain Bardet - 31'25" +21" The Frenchman slots into fourth spot to a big cheer from the home crowd!! Superb ride from him in a stage that doesn't exactly suit his style.
Connor Bennett
Editor
Richie Porte - 31'16" +12" Slowed down in the third sector coming up to the top of the climb, but he's brought it through in third place, losing out to Aru by milliseconds.
Connor Bennett
Editor
Adam Yates is running well back past the second sector gate as Richie Porte flies over the peak and into the descent. Froome has been steady so far, running a good time but not breaking ahead with much gusto as of yet
Connor Bennett
Editor
The final lot of riders are all flying in to the finish now. Positions changing all over the place!!
Connor Bennett
Editor
Fabio Aru - 31'16" +12" That's the closest to Dumoulin by a long way!! The Italian has had a massive ride there, nearly collecting the barriers in the final few corners, not holding anything back.
Connor Bennett
Editor
Daniel Martin - 32'11" +1'06" Martin loses his spot in the GC standings to Meintjes with that time!! Nothing wrong with his overall ride, but he was racing the South African more than anything else and he's lost that battle.
Connor Bennett
Editor
Louis Meintjes - 31'51" +47" A huge finish!! He's going to slide up in the overall standings with that time after a very solid middle sector on the climb, really getting those legs pumping.
Connor Bennett
Editor
Porte has slipped a touch in the second sector, falling from a nine second lead in the first, to an eight second deficit at the second checkpoint.