Belgian Victor Campenaerts claimed the biggest victory of his career on Thursday when he won the tough 18e mountainous stage of the Tour de France at the end of a three-way sprint.
Two-time Tour champion Tadej Pogacar retained the yellow jersey as the top of the general classification remains unchanged with just three stages remaining.
Quebecer Hugo Houle finished the event in 19e place, while Ontario’s Derek Gee ranked 59the.
Campenaerts spent most of the day in the lead and pulled away from a breakaway group about 35 kilometres from the finish with Frenchman Mattéo Vercher and former Polish world champion Michal Kwiatkowski.
Campenaerts, a stage winner of the 2021 Giro d’Italia, waited patiently behind his rivals in the final kilometer and did not panic when Vercher attacked. He stayed on Kwiatkowski’s wheel, launching his sprint from behind.
The Lotto Dstny team cyclist celebrated his victory with his partner and baby during a video call just after the finish.
There was a wave of attacks at the start of the rollercoaster stage featuring five climbs as riders tried to break away before the first climb, the Col du Festre. But the peloton rode at high speed, thwarting all these hasty efforts.
Around 20 riders eventually managed to open up a gap on the climb and were joined by Wednesday’s stage winner Richard Carapaz and other stage contenders including Ben Healy and Geraint Thomas.
With the best-placed rider in this large group already nearly 34 minutes behind Pogacar in the general classification, the peloton let him escape. The main contenders for the Tour victory, including Pogacar and his rivals Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel, finished 13 minutes and 40 seconds behind Campenaerts.
Pogacar has a comfortable 3:11 lead over two-time defending champion Vingegaard. Evenepoel, who is competing in the Tour for the first time, is 5:09 behind.