On the brutal queen stage of the 2025 Tour de France, it was the breakaway that triumphed, not the yellow jersey contenders. Ben O’Connor delivered a superb solo victory into Courchevel – Col de la Loze, rising out of GC irrelevance to claim his second career Tour stage win after weeks of disappointment.
Despite all the talk of fireworks between Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, the stage ended with a stalemate between the two main contenders. Only a late burst from the Slovenian on the final ramps gained a few seconds on his Danish rival, while the bigger gains were found elsewhere on GC.
O’Connor goes clear as the favourites stall
The stage featured over 5,600 metres of climbing across the Col du Glandon, Col de la Madeleine, and the fearsome Col de la Loze. But it wasn’t on those ascents that the yellow jersey changed hands. Instead, the front group of attackers had their day, with Ben O’Connor playing his hand perfectly.
The Jayco AlUla rider initially escaped in a strong group that included Einer Rubio, Matteo Jorgenson and Thymen Arensman. While chaos reigned behind on the Madeleine and Loze, O’Connor timed his move with 16km to go, attacking Rubio and gradually pulling clear. His advantage grew steadily on the final climb, even as the GC riders began their own battle several minutes behind.
“It was a brutal day,” Vingegaard said at the finish. “I’m not sure if I’ve ever done such a hard stage in the Tour. We had big plans, and the team were amazing. But I just didn’t have it at the end.”
That team effort from Visma – with Wout van Aert, Tiesj Benoot and Sepp Kuss all taking turns earlier in the stage – wasn’t enough to drop Pogačar. When Vingegaard finally attacked with 2km to go, the yellow jersey was instantly on his wheel. And it was Pogačar who had the last word, riding away from his rival with 500 metres to go to take second place on the stage and another six bonus seconds.
“Still,” Vingegaard insisted when asked if the Tour was already lost. “I think we were pretty equal today, even if he took a few seconds at the end. The Tour is not over.”
Photo Credit: A.S.O./Billy CeustersGC shake-up as Onley closes on podium
The biggest loser among the podium contenders was Florian Lipowitz, who began the day in third overall but showed signs of struggle throughout the final climb. Having launched an early attack that gained him time, the Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe rider began to suffer in the final kilometres, conceding time to both Pogačar and Vingegaard, as well as to Oscar Onley.
The Scottish rider from Picnic-PostNL finished fourth on the stage, just behind the GC favourites, and slashed his deficit to Lipowitz to just 22 seconds. With one Alpine stage and a mountain time trial still to come, the battle for third place in Paris is wide open.
Behind them, Felix Gall moved up to sixth overall after overhauling a fading Kévin Vauquelin, while Einer Rubio was rewarded for his day-long effort in the break with fifth on the stage. Primož Roglič, who had also been aggressive early on, faded late but still rode in just over a minute behind the main GC trio.
Photo Credit: A.S.O./Billy CeustersKOM battle intensifies
There was also plenty of action in the mountains classification. Lenny Martinez still leads the polka-dot jersey standings, but only just. His early effort on the Glandon kept him in front, but Thymen Arensman and Pogačar both closed the gap, with Vingegaard also collecting points at the top of the Madeleine.
Heading into Stage 19, Martinez remains on 80 points, but Pogačar is just five behind, with Arensman not far off either. With more points on offer on the road to La Plagne, the battle for the climber’s prize remains finely balanced.
2025 Tour de France Stage 18 result
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Main photo credit: Getty
