Tour de France Stage 18 as it happened: Vingegaard strengthens grip on yellow with Hautacam win after descent drama

"It’s incredible. This morning I said to my girlfriend and daughter that I wanted to win for them – and I did. I’m immensely proud that I did this for my two girls at home. Now there’s still two more stages to come before Paris so we need to stay focused and play it day by day. I don’t want to talk about it yet. Let’s talk about it in two days."

On the Pogacar crash: "He kind of missed the corner and went down into some gravel. When he tried to steer it out, the bike – how do you say? – disappeared under him. And, yeah, I waited for him. Today I have to thank all my teammates – incredible. You see Wout van Aert dropping Tadej Pogacar in the end. Sepp Kuss was incredible. Everyone – Tiesj, Christophe, Nathan – they were all incredible today."

1. Jonas Vingegaard
2. Tadej Pogacar +3'26
3. Geraint Thomas +8'00
4. David Gaudu +11'05
5. Nairo Quintana +13'25
6. Louis Meintjes +13'45
7. Aleksandr Vlasov +14'10
8. Romain Bardet +16'11
9. Alexey Lutsenko +20'09
10. Adam Yates +20'17

Thomas and Gaudu completed the top five ahead of Lutsenko, Martinez, Kuss, Vlasov and Pinot. Three Jumbo-Visma riders in the top 8 says it all really. What a tour de force from the Dutch team - a far cry from the comedy outfit on the cobbles in week one.

Tadej Pogacar crosses the line with a little shake of the head as he comes home just over one minute down to lose any faint hopes of winning this Tour. Not long after, Wout van Aert punches the air after another huge contribution for Jumbo-Visma. What a duo they have been in this race...

The yellow jersey clasps his heart and then blows a kiss to the crowd - and on a day he waited for his rival after a crash, Jonas Vingegaard has become the latest Dane to win at Hautacam to all bit secure the overall win.

Their previous champion Bjarne Riis and his successor Michael Rasmussen were somewhat tainted - but Jonas Vingegaard is re-writing the history books for Danish cycling, in a year the Tour started in Denmark. What a story. He now has a minute on Pogacar...

That puts the Dane's lead up to three minutes in the general classification - too much for Pogacar to overturn in the final time trial. Vingegaard will also take the polka dot jersey today with this win. If he were born a couple of weeks later, he'd have the white jersey as well.

Geraint Thomas needs a bike change so he will have to chase to rejoin teammate Martinez and Gaudu on this final climb.

The Dane now goes alone as Van Aert sits up and is caught by Pogacar. He will take his second win of the race while securing the yellow jersey - channelling his inner Bjarne Riis, who did the same while in yellow on Hautacam back in 1996, and Michael Rasmussen, who did the same in 2008.

That's it - Pogacar has popped! The pace from Wout van Aert was just too much for the Slovenian, especially after his crash, and the two teammates ride towards what could be a clean sweep of jerseys...

But Van Aert still has a role to play. He takes over from the American as Vingegaard's pace-maker here - what an all-round performance from this colossus of cycling. They drop Martinez and discard Kuss... Behind, Thomas has dropped Verona and Lutsenko but is still one minute down, with the Gaudu group at 1'40" and the Quintana group another minute back.

Just 15 seconds now and Wout van Aert eases for his teammates behind. They want to secure the yelloww jersey, for sure, but they'd love to pick up a stage win on Hautacam as well.

Van Aert and Martinez are now the only remaining escapees after Lutsenko, Verona and Pinot are all passed. And with Kuss still setting the tempo for Vingegaard and Pogacar, Thomas is distanced. The gap for the two leaders, Van Aert and Martinez, is just 30 seconds now.

The green jersey decides that now is the time he has to make his move if he wants to add Hautacam to his scalp on Mont Ventoux. The Belgian takes Dani Martinez with him but it looks like Pinot has hit the wall. Another day - perhaps year - without a French stage winner on the Tour...

The duo are 35 seconds down on the leading trio and could well return to the fold. Although they may be caught by the riders behind before they catch the leaders. That's because Kuss is dragging Vingegaard, Pogacar and thomas to within one minute of the leaders now after dropping Meintjes.

If Pinot wins then it will be a first stage win for France this year. If Van Aert wins then he could well take the polka dot jersey apparently plus a third stage win of what has been a stellar race. And if Martinez wins that will add another mountain scalp for Ineos after Tom Pidcock's Alpe d'Huez win. They are all solid climbers but you fear for their chances with those two monsters - Pogacar and Vinegaard - behind. Just 1'40" now.

Supposing Van Aert wins and Pinot comes second - that will put them level on 67pts (three ahead of Simon Geschke) in the KOM standings. With just 3pts left between here and Paris.

Madouas, Houle and Benoot peel off one by one and now it's just Kuss, Vingegaard, Pogacar, Thomas and Meintjes - in that order - as they come within two minutes of the leaders.