Tour de France

Sam Bennett had a plan at the start of the day, and that was to score as many points as possible at the intermediate sprint in Aime, which came just 14 kilometers, and keep alive his dream of conquering the green jersey. The sprint was preceded by a short hill, where several teams were expected to put the hammer down, and the race stuck to the script, dozens of men riding clear of the peloton and booking a place in the breakaway.

With both riders that still pose a threat to him in the points classification being there, Bennett knew he wasn’t allowed to miss that move and immediately shadowed his opponents, helped also by a strong Bob Jungels. As a matter of fact, it was the Luxembourger who set a steady tempo on the short climb and then provided a top lead-out that helped Sam win the stage 18 intermediate sprint and widen his gap to 52 points.

While Bob continued in the front, showing a lot of determination and mental resilience on the tough terrain of this last Alpine stage, Sam was distanced on the day’s first climb, the Cormet de Roselend, but had no reason to worry, as all his remaining Deceuninck – Quick-Step teammates were there and helped him make it over the five classified climbs and then to the finish in La-Roche-sur-Foron, where Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos) took the win from the break.

“I am a bit tired, but happy with how the day went. I knew the start of the stage was going to be very important and my focus was on that intermediate sprint, where Bob did a great job and helped me bag in maximum points. Then I set my own tempo on the first climb, before dropping to the gruppetto, where the guys were once again fantastic and helped me make it to the end. It’s a nice buffer that I have in the standings with three days to go and it makes me a bit more optimistic, but it’s not over yet and I want to keep the focus and give my absolute best until the last stage”, Sam said after his tenth day in the fabled green jersey.

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images