Tour de France: Ben O'Connor wins on Col de la Loze, Tadej Pogacar increasingly yellow jersey

Four years after his success in Tignes, Team Jayco AIUla’s Australian Ben O’Connor won by a breakaway on the 18th stage of the Tour de France, 171.5 kilometers starting in Vif and finishing uphill at the Col de la Loze, the highest peak of the Grande Boucle at 2304 meters and thus Souvenir Henri Desgrange, after having previously climbed the Col du Glandon and the Col de la Madeleine.

O’Connor was 1’45” ahead of an impressive Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian of UAE Team Emirates first staved off attacks from Jonas Vingegaard first on the Madeleine and then with a kilometer and a half to go, and finally in less than a kilometer he edged him by 9 seconds, sucking in Movistar’s Colombian Einar Rubio, who seemed by then certain of second place for the day.

In the overall standings, Pogacar is increasingly the yellow jersey, now 4’26” ahead of Team Visma Lease a Bike’s Dane. Third remains Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s German Florian Lipowitz, now 11’01” off because he lost nearly two minutes to Pogacar today, and behind him by only 22 seconds is Team Picnic Postnl’s Briton Oscar Onley, one of the Tour’s revelations.

Tomorrow is the last test in the big mountains for the GC men: the nineteenth stage, 129.9 kilometers starting in Albertville and another uphill finish in La Plagne after the Grands Prix de la Montagne of Col de Saises, Col du Pré and Cormet de Roselend.