Jonas Vingegaard seals yellow jersey with monstrous ride and win in Hautacam

Jumbo-Visma have taken the final stage win in Hautacam on stage 18, as they have dominated the day with plenty riders in the high mountains, who have managed to deliver Jonas Vingegaard to the stage win after he resisted and attacked Tadej Pogacar.

With the flat start to the day it was once again a battle to form a breakaway, as the peloton saw Quick-Step and Cofidis mainly control the moves for their own interests. It was a complicated one to stick, but 33 riders went up the road before the Col d'Aubisque, and the small gap saw many more try to jump across the gap at the base including Louis Meintjes, Enric Mas and Alexey Lutsenko who were fighting inside the Top10.

Several groups were created, never with a definitive organization in the race as dozens of riders were spread throughout the mountain. The gap to the peloton grew to four minutes however as Jumbo-Visma weren't interested in having the gap close. Arkéa pushed the pace in the following descent, with Brandon McNulty entering service at the bas eof the Col de Spandelles.

The race quickly blew up, with Wout van Aert, Thibaut Pinot and Daniel Martínez taking the head of the race, and behind the attacks begun as Tadej Pogacar launched an initial attack against Jonas Vingegaard. Time and time again the Slovenian accelerated abruptly, but always with a ready response from the yellow jersey.

The descent was perhaps even more tense as the Slovenian rode the pace extremely hard in the tight corners, leading Vingegaard to almost crash, and then himself take a tumble. After the two reconnected, they slowed down and soon had the company of a small chasing group where Tiesj Benoot and Sepp Kuss could give assistance to the race leader and stabilized the race into the final climb, two minutes behind the trio out front.

Van Aert and Martínez stayed in front after attacks, but were brought back by Kuss' pace behind. At that time van Aert pushed the pace and took Vingegaard with him, carving a gap to Tadej Pogacar that was then extended over the final five kilometers. The yellow jersey took a glorious stage win in the final mountain stage, likely sealing the overall win as he took over a minute to the Slovenian. Wout van Aert survived to finish in third place, with an equally impressive ride.

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