The Tour de France: Stages Eighteen and Nineteen

Stage eighteen was very much one for the GC contenders, as riders had to negotiate the climb of Alpe d'Huez twice. Although, ultimately the win was taken by a rider who had got into an earlier breakaway group, it was here that time could be gained or lost by those in contention for the GC. In terms of GC ambitions, the biggest losers were the Belkin boys, Ten Dam and Mollema, as well as Contador for Saxo-Tinkoff, having lost a further minute to Froome. Quintana, on the other hand, was incredibly strong and managed to put time into his nearest rival, Contador. It is evident that the podium positions could change, so that Quintana ends up in second and Contador in third, as Quintana is a powerhouse on the climbs.

In the end, it was Christophe Riblon who was the first French winner of this year's tour, finishing ahead of van Garderen who had looked strong all day, but may have been hampered by having to chase back on after a mechanical problem, as he had to exert extra energy. He was not the only one to suffer from not having enough energy, as Christopher Froome showed signs of weakness for the first time this tour, so that he ended up getting Richie Porte to go back to the team car to get some energy gels, even though they were outside the feeding zone limits. This would lead to a 20 second penalty for both Froome and Porte and a fine for the two riders and their director sportif, although Froome asserted they hadn't been able to get food at the appropriate time because their car had a mechanical issue. With such a significant buffer, Froome clearly felt it was safer to risk a penalty than to go without food for the last few kilometres.

Stage nineteen turned out to be another victory for the breakaway and with much less action in terms of the GC, although there were a few changes such as Ten Dam and Rogers dropping out of the top ten and Valverde and Navarro moving up, with Kwiatowski losing a position and ending up in tenth place. Izagirre and Hesjedal were the first to get into a breakaway, but as Izagirre dropped off it was left to Pierre Rolland, who had made his way out of the chasing group up to the breakaway, and Hesjedal to keep it going. The pace was too much for Hesjedal who faded. Although Pierre Roland claimed his pursuit of the polka dot jersey was over, having secured points on this stage, he is only one point behind Froome.

Eventually, it was left to Rui Costa to go on the attack out of the chasing group, catching Rolland with 19 kilometres to go and quickly passing him. In the end it was he who took the victory, finishing just under nine minutes ahead of the rest of the peloton, with Andreas Klöden in second and Jan Bakelants in third.