Tour de France 2020: stage 18 – live!

145km to go: Having also failed to get a man in the breakaway, Total Direct Energie have moved to the front of the peloton and are trying to close the gap. It’s coming down and is currently at 1min 27sec.

146km to go: His objective achieved for the day in the intermediate sprint, Sam Bennett bids farewell to his companions in the breakaway and starts sliding backwards on the first climb of the day.

147km to go: The riders approach the first of five categorised climbs today, the Cormet de Roseland. It’s a cat 1 that’s 1,968m high with a 6% gradient and 18.6km long.

An email: “Glad to see you made it into the breakaway group,” writes Sam Huscroft. “I’m interested to know if you are going to try and solo up the HC or keep your powder dry?”

151km to go: The gap between our breakaway and the the peloton is out to 1min 43sec. Bora riders Lennard Kamna and Max Schachmann have failed to bridge the gap.

156km to go: The peloton is being led by riders from B&B Hotels-Vital Concept, who somehow contrived not to get a rider in an otherwise very well represented break. One imagines their team boss is not best pleased.

161km to go: Your breakaway group: Jonathan Castroviejo, Richard Carapaz, Michal Kwiatkowski and Dylan Van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers), Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Nans Peters (Ag2r La Mondiale), Sam Bennett and Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Rudy Molard and Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-McLaren), Alberto Bettiol and Tejay Van Garderen (EF Education First), Dayer Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic), Dario Cataldo, Nelson Oliveira, José Joaquín Rojas and Carlos Verona (Movistar Team), Simon Geschke and Matteo Trentin (CCC Team), Barry Glendenning (Guardian Media Group), Nicolas Edet and Jesús Herrada (Cofidis), Luis León Sánchez (Astana Pro Team), Jasper de Buyst and Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Krists Neilands (Israel Start-Up Nation), Michael Gogl and Michael Valgren (NTT Pro Cycling), Nikias Arndt, Marc Hirschi, Soren Kragh Andersen and Nicholas Roche (Team Sunweb).

159km to go: Bora-Hansgrohe riders Lennard Kamna and Max Scachmann are currently trying to bridge the gap between the peloton and the lead group. But who will they meet if they get there, I hear you ask. Well, I’ll tell you …

161km to go: The 32-man breakaway opens a gap of 1min 05sec over the peloton as we approach the intermediate sprint. Bennett is first over the line, followed by Trentin with Sagan coming third.

Intermediate sprint: Today’s takes place early doors in the stage, in approximately three kilometres. Bennett, Sagan and Matteo Trentin are all in the lead group of 32 riders and will be contesting that. Bennett leads the category with 278 points, Sagan is next on 231 and Trentin is third with 218.

169km to go: De Gendt and chums are reeled in by the peloton, which promptly splits. A group of around 30 riders, including Sam Bennett in the green jersey and Peter Sagan, his nearest rival for the garment, make a break for it.

170km to go: Thomas de Gendt, of course. Or at least he’ll try. Off the Lotto Soudal rider darts,with three companions, trying to put a stretch of asphalt between themselves and the peloton. Expect several riders to try to jump across and bridge the gap – it could be quite some time before this stage settles.

They’re off and racing in stage 18: The road is about five lanes wide and the sun is hot as race director Christian Prudhomme semaphores the signal to start racing. Today’s stage is built for a breakaway, but who will get in it?

King of the Mountains

With just a flat stage, an individual time-trial and Sunday’s procession to Paris left after today’s stage, the battle for the King of the Mountains title is likely to be settled today.

AG2R rider Benoit Cosnefroy finally surrendered the polka-dot shirt after more than fortnight yesterday, dropping to fourth in the rankings. Tadej Pogacar now leads the classification with 66 points, with Primoz Roglic in second with 63. Miguel Angel Lopez is third with 51 points after his heroic performance yesterday, while Cosnefroy is next on 36 points.

The French president Emmanuel Macron was pootling along behind the yellow jersey group in a Tour Skoda during yesterday’s stage won by Miguel Angel Lopez and saw Primoz Roglic extend his lead at the top of the General Classification. Jeremy Whittle was there for the Guardian …

The top 10 on General Classification

Primoz Roglic extended his lead over his compatriot Tadej Pogacar yesterday, while Miguel Angel Lopez rode himself on to a podium position with his stage win.

From William Fotheringham’s stage-by-stage guide: The last of eight Alpine stages: a saw-tooth profile, with the partly gravel Plateau de Glières 32km from the finish. None of the favourites can afford a bad day here, but it doesn’t have the scary look of the day before. A stage for a break, a last chance for a rider like

Romain Bardet or
Warren Barguil to shine if he has had a poor three weeks.[Narrator’s voice: The curse of Fothers strikes again, as for the third consecutive day, our resident Jonah has tipped a rider who has been forced out of the race through injury.”]

• Today’s roll-out begins at 11.30am (BST)