Tour de France stage 18 predictions and cycling betting tips: Title Vingegaard's to lose

Where to watch Tour de France stage 18

ITV4 & Eurosport 1, 12.05pm Thursday

Tour de France stage 18 predictions

Jonas Vingegaard's inevitable cruise to his second successive Tour de France win was briefly halted on Wednesday as he had to pause behind a car that was stopped by the crowds on the final climb, but it will take a far more dramatic intervention to deny him.

His moment of concern came well after Tadej Pogacar had cracked and finally surrendered any chance of catching the Dane, who had all but wrapped up victory with a preposterously wide-margin win in the previous day’s time trial.

Crowd control at the Tour needs addressing because it is only a matter of time before a major incident forces significant action to be taken, but Vingegaard would probably not have reached stage winner Felix Gall, who won from the early breakaway, even if he had not been inconvenienced.

The road to Paris consists of three relatively easy stages plus a hilly day in the Vosges mountains on Saturday, and only major misfortune can deny Vingegaard now.

There are a few lumps in the road on Thursday and the first post-mountains stage can be hard to predict as the sprinters show a variety of fatigue, so a breakaway could succeed. Guessing who emerges victorious if that is to be the case is exactly that - a guess.

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