Is stage 18 into Col de la Loze Jonas Vingegaard's final opportunity to take back the yellow jersey from Tadej Pogacar?

Stage 18 of the Tour de France features 5500 meters of climbing and three HC ascents. The Col du Glandon, Col de la Madeleine and Col de la Loze will be perhaps the race's most brutal combination of climbs, and perhaps the biggest opportunity for Jonas Vingegaard to dethrone Tadej Pogacar.

In the past Pogacar has been dropped by Sepp Kuss on both ascents of Loze back in 2020 and 2023, and the American - in great form - can prove to be a headache once again in the long Alpine ascent where two years ago Pogacar completely cracked and gave way to Jonas Vingegaard's second Tour win.

In 2025 the context is quite different, with Pogacar coming in to the race as the defending champion after a dominant 2024 edition and a just-as-strong 2025 Tour until the third week. However on stage 16 the levels seemed more matched, and perhaps there is a more even level between the two strongest climbers in the peloton.

Vingegaard put in a monster performance on Mont Ventoux, and even though Pogacar attacked him in the finale of the climb, he was unable to make the difference. Hence more hope has been created in the Team Visma | Lease a Bike camp that the difference can be made in the Alps, with two monster stages on the menu.

The 19 kilometers of the Col de la Madeleine, averaging almost 8%, is a climb where serious damage can be done but it's the summit finish, at over 2300 meters of altitude, where the biggest hits can be done in the fight for the overall classification.

The climb is 26.5 kilometers long at 6.4% and should take over an hour to complete even for the very best, whilst featuring very steep gradients in it's finale. 4:15 minutes separate the two in what can be a stage that will go down in history.