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Michal Kwiatkowski led a magnificent Ineos Grenadiers one-two on stage 18 to help save his Tour de France as Primoz Roglic took one more step towards the title.
Pole Kwiatkowski and his teammate Richard Carapaz crossed the arm line after pulling away from the rest of the field on a tough mountain stage.
Roglic and his Jumbo-Visma team withstood any attack while maintaining their 57-second lead with three stages to go.
Britain’s Adam Yates fell from fifth to seventh overall.
Former world champion Kwiatkowki’s first individual Grand Tour stage victory capped a strong performance by Ineos since defending champion Egan Bernal left the contest, before dropping out after stage 16.
The British team have been active on the breakaways, with Carapaz closing in on both stages 16 and 17, before Kwiatkowski secured his maiden Tour 2020 victory.
“That was one day. I can’t describe how grateful I am to the whole team and to Richard. I will never forget it,” Kwiatkowski said.
“I’ve had some good moments in cycling, but that was something new. I got goose bumps in the last few kilometers because I knew we were going to do it. It was incredible.
Ineos saves your Tour
Despite a very successful career including victories at Milan-San Remo, the Amstel Gold Race and the Strade Bianche twice, Kwiatkowski had eluded a stage win on the Grand Tour, and the 30-year-old was a support rider. crucial for Chris Froome, Geraint. Thomas and Bernal since joining Team Sky in 2016.
He and Carapaz had a four-minute lead in the final 10km, leaving them plenty of time to celebrate and decide who would take victory in La Roche-sur-Foron, with Carapaz slamming on the brakes at the last minute to ensure that Kwiatkowski Got it.
Carapaz had been clear with Marc Hirschi on the first climb of the day as they battled for the mountain qualifying points before Kwiatkowski, Pello Bilbao and Nicolas Edet joined them on the second climb.
Edet fell back and Hirschi crashed, before remounting, descending the Col des Saisies, before the Ineos duo dropped Bilbao on the final climb.
Last year’s Giro d’Italia champion Carapaz also took the polka dot jersey as the leader of the mountain classification from Tadej Pogacar, who remains second in the general classification.
The Ecuadorian leads Pogacar by eight points in that competition, with a maximum of 12 points on offer.
Roglic almost arrived
As a final mountain stage, this was the last realistic chance for any of Roglic’s rivals to regain considerable time with the Slovenian, but he was unscathed.
Stage 19 on Friday should see the overall contenders finish together and Sunday’s final stage is a procession to Paris, where tradition dictates that the race leader is not attacked.
Saturday’s individual mountain time trial culminates with a climb to La Planche des Belles Filles but, as an impressive time trial and climber, Roglic will be sure he already has enough of an advantage.
Once again, Roglic was well supported, with Pogacar unable to launch an attack on the final climb by the punishing Plateau des Glieres before the compatriots raced to fourth and fifth respectively after Roglic’s teammate Wout van Aert , neutralize the four second bonus for the third.
Mikel Landa was briefly clear as his Bahrain McLaren team returned to setting a high pace but with more success than on stage 17, as they left Rigoberto Uran and Yates, who finished more than two minutes less, allowing Landa to get on the fifth place overall.
Richie Porte suffered a puncture in a gravel section after the summit of the Glieres, but managed to chase after him to stay fourth overall.
Result of stage 18
1. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol / Ineos Grenadiers) 4 hours 47 minutes 33 seconds
2. Richard Carapaz (Ecu / Ineos Grenadiers) Same time
3. Wout van Aert (Bel / Jumbo-Visma) + 1 min 51 s
4. Primoz Roglic (Slo / Jumbo-Visma) + 1min 53secs
5. Tadej Pogacar (Slo / UAE Team Emirates) Same time
6. Richie Porte (Aus / Trek-Segafredo) + 1 minute 54 seconds
7. Enric Mas (Spa / Movistar) Same time
8. Mikel Landa (Spa / Bahrain McLaren)
9. Damiano Caruso (Ita / Bahrain McLaren)
Tom Dumoulin (Ned / Jumbo-Visma)
General classification after stage 18
1. Primoz Roglic (Slo / Jumbo-Visma) 79 hours 45 minutes 30 seconds
2. Tadej Pogacar (Slo / UAE Team Emirates) +57 seconds
3. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col / Astana) + 1min 27secs
4. Richie Porte (Aus / Trek-Segafredo) + 3mins 06secs
5. Mikel Landa (Spa / Bahrain McLaren) + 3 minutes 28 seconds
6. Enric Mas (Spa / Movistar) + 4min 19secs
7. Adam Yates (GB / Mitchelton-Scott) + 5 minutes and 55 seconds
8. Rigoberto Uran (Col / EF Pro Cycling) + 6 minutes 05 seconds
9. Tom Dumoulin (Ned / Jumbo-Visma) + 7 minutes 24 seconds
10. Alejandro Valverde (Spa / Movistar) + 12mins 12secs
