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Stage 18 - By the numbers
Stage 18, Bourg-d’Oisans to Saint-Etienne, 196.5km
Weather
Sunny and warm, clear skies, temperatures in the low 80s.
Stage winner
On a day destined to see a winner come from a breakaway, Columbia’s German Marcus Burghardt took his first-ever Tour stage win out of a two-man breakaway, ahead of Quick Step’s Spaniard Carlos Barredo.
Yellow jersey
CSC-Saxo Bank’s Carlos Sastre enjoyed his first career day in the maillot jaune, and finished safely in the bunch to preserve his race lead heading into Friday’s stage 19. There were no major changes on the general classification.
Green jersey
After breakaways ate up the day’s intermediate sprint points, Rabobank’s Oscar Freire added to his lead in the points competition by finishing two spots ahead of Thor Hushovd in the field sprint. Freire now leads Hushovd 229 points to 180.
King of the Mountains
Barredo took 17 KOM points over the day’s three categorized climbs, bringing his total to 22. With no major climbs remaining in the Tour, Bernhard Kohl has 125 points and has locked up the contest for the polka-dot jersey. All Kohl has to do is make it to Paris and he'll be the KOM winner of the 2008 Tour de France.
Most aggressive rider
Burghardt was awarded most aggressive for his presence in two breakaways
Best young rider
Burghardt was the top young rider in the stage, but Andy Schleck (CSC-Saxo Bank) continues to lead the best young rider competition, 1:58 ahead of Roman Kreuziger of Liquigas. Burghardt sits 3:01:54 behind Schleck in the best young rider competiton.
Team GC
With Sastre and Frank Schleck sitting first and second overall, CSC-Saxo Bank leads the team competition, 9:27 ahead of Ag2r-La Mondiale.
Top American
Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Chipotle) continues to be top American, sitting sixth, at 4:41. George Hincapie (Columbia) is next, sitting 37th at 1:08:28.
Lanterne Rouge
Wim Vansevenant (Silence-Lotto) maintained his position as the rider furthest from the race lead. The Belgian now sits 3:45:48 behind Sastre.
Medical report
●Sandy Casar (Francaise Des Jeux) crashed at 25km, cuts to left elbow and knee.
●Damiano Cunego (Lampre) crashed at 32km, deep cuts to jaw and chin, needing stitches, superficial scratches to face and throat.
●Phillipe Gilbert (Francaise Des Jeux) crashed at 32km, cuts on right hand and left knee.
●Bichot (Ag2r-La Mondiale), object in eye.
●Feillu (Agritubel), digestive problems.
●Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner), nose bleed.
The peloton
No riders abandoned or missed the time cut. The peloton remains at 150 riders. (Editor’s Note: - Damiano Cunego’s Lampre team announced Thursday that he will not start Friday’s stage)
Jury report
●Inaki Isasi (Euskaltel-Euskadi) fined 30 euros for prolonged assistance from team car after mechanical.
●director Gerrikagoita fined 120 euros.
Friday’s forecast
partly cloudy, light winds, temperatures in the low 80s, chance of rain during latter half of the stage.
