Presented by NTT DATA
5-1: CAMPENAERTS, FROM SUPER-COMBATIVE TO SUPER-EFFICIENT
After he was named the most combative rider of the Tour de France 2023, Victor Campenaerts now claims his maiden stage win, adding up to another breakaway success in the Giro.
Last year, the Belgian was part of 5 breakaways, with a 10th place as his best result (in Belleville-en-Beaujolais, stage 12).
En route to Barcelonnette, he made his first breakaway of the Tour 2024 and capped a spectacular day with a strong sprint, hitting 65.3km/h in the last kilometre.
1.470: LOTTO DSTNY END THEIR DROUGHT
Deeply rooted in the history of the Tour de France, Lotto Dstny won their 1st stage in 1987, with Marc Sergeant, and their 41st on day 18 of the Tour 2024, thanks to Victor Campenaerts.
Their last victory to date was Caleb Ewan’s, on 9 July 2020, i.e. 1.470 days ago!
2: VERCHER IS UNBREAKABLE
Participating in his first Tour de France 2024 at 23 years old, Mattéo Vercher claimed his best professional result with a place of 2nd Barcelonnette that highlights his resilience. The young Frenchman had a rough start of the Tour, with a severe dehydration en route to Rimini. His stage 18 also started off the wrong foot, with a crash in the neutral zone. And still, he was there to sprint for the win, after 179.5km of battle at 43.023km/h.
14: THE TOUR AND THE HOUR RECORD, A HISTORIC RELATIONSHIP
As he powered to victory in Barcelonnette, Victor Campenaerts became the 14th rider whose list of achievements features both a Tour stage win and a stint as the holder of the hour record.
The first to do so was Lucien Petit-Breton, who even won the overall in 1907 and 1908. And the list includes names such as Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Fausto Coppi…
Campenaerts set his hour record - 55.089km - in 2019, beating Bradley Wiggins’ reference from 2015. His record lasted until 2022, when it was beaten by Daniel Bigham and then Filippo Ganna.
It should also be noted that the first rider to set the hour record, in 1893, was Henri Desgrange, founder of the Tour de France.
5-5: LAZKANO (SORT OF) EQUALS POGACAR
As he took three KOMs today (Côte de Corps, Col de Manse and Côte de Saint-Apollinaire), Oier Lazkano has now gone first atop 5 categorised climbs in the Tour 2024, as many as Tadej Pogacar.
The (huge) difference lies in the category of the ascents they conquered. Lazkano went first at the Tourmalet (HC) and atop 3 cat-3 and one cat-4 ascents. He has 41 KOM points.
Pogacar conquered the other 3 HC Climbs so far in the Tour (Galibier, Pla d’Adet, Plateau de Beille), as well as cat-1 and a cat-2 climbs. His tally of 77 points makes him the owner (but not the wearer) of the polka-dot jersey for the 8th day in a row.
Only Jonas Abrahamsen took more KOMs than Lazkano and Pogacar: 18 (1 cat-2, 7 cat-3s, 10 cat-4s)
37: AND NOW POGACAR JOINS FRANTZ
Tadej Pogacar keeps moving up in the all-time rankings of riders who led the overall standings of the Tour de France: 37 Maillot Jaune, as many as Nicolas Frantz, in the 8th position.
Antonin Magne is 7th with 39 jerseys. In 6th place, Sylvère Maes (41 Maillot Jaune) is out of reach for this year even if Pogacar were to keep the jersey all the way to Nice.
14: GIRMAY IN THE TOP-40
With 387 points, Biniam Girmay is coming closer and closer to being the first African rider to win a ranking in the Tour de France. In the meantime, his 14th green jersey is the 37th best tally ever, tied with Sam Bennett, who won the points standings in 2020.
Peter Sagan is the rider who has collected the most green jerseys in his career: 130!
Among the riders participating in the Tour 2024, Mark Cavendish (43) leads the way ahead of Wout van Aert (20) and Jasper Philipsen (18).
4: JOHANNESSEN SHOWS UNO-X MOBILITY’S COMBATIVITY
After Jonas Abrahamsen (stages 2 and 8) and Magnus Cort (stage 13), Tobias Johannessen claimed a 4th combativity award for Uno-X Mobility, more than any other team in this Tour (Groupama-FDJ follow with 3).
In line with his aggressive racing on challenging days, Johannessen made the breakaway and was part of the battle for the stage win when he crashed with 35km to go, at a speed of 55.3km/h. He eventually finished 18th.
7: KWIATKOWSKI, BACK IN THE TOP-3
After he provoked the decisive split in the finale, Michal Kwiatkowski came very close to a first professional success since he won stage 13 of the Tour de France 2023, 1 year and 4 days ago. The Polish will have to settle for a 7th top-3 in the Tour: 2 wins, 1 place of 2nd, 4 places of 3rd.
