The place to watch the Tour de France - LIVE, FREE and EXCLUSIVE - plus the second edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is right here on SBS. Replays, mini stage recaps, highlights and live streaming can be found on the and the available for download on and .
A day which was meant to be one for the sprinters ended in disappointment for those searching for an elusive stage victory at the Tour de France, as Stage 18 saw Kasper Asgreen (Soudal Quick-Step) prevail after maintaining an early lead from a four-man break which included Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X) and Lotto-Dstny duo Pascal Eenkhoorn and Victor Campenaerts.
Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-Alula), who remains without a stage win at the 2023 race after failing to break Jasper Philipsen's (Alpecin-Deceuninck) run of four sprint victories, declined to speak to the media after the race.
The Dutch sprinter claimed that he felt well prepared to break his drought speaking shortly after Tuesday's time-trial.
"We all saw Philipsen is in really good shape but also my shape is really good. I feel actually not tired so that's a good sign. I'm ready for the last sprints and hopefully, we can get one," Groenewegen said.
However, it was not to be on the race's final flat stage, with Jayco-Alula director of high-performance Matt White venting his frustration to the press while suggesting that motorbikes may have influenced the finish with drafting.
"You watch television, you saw the final. It is what it is, isn't it?" White said. "I think there was interesting movement in the final there. It made for great television with so many motorbikes around, but it's disappointing.
"We committed today and to not catch that breakaway is disappointing."
Meanwhile, green jersey holder Philipsen expressed that he was surprised that the breakaway was able to hold its narrow margin, the Belgian being part of a depleted chasing peloton on the day which was clearly missing the likes of Asgreen's teammate Fabio Jakobsen, Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan) and Campaenaerts' main man Caleb Ewan, who all abandoned the race in the first two weeks after their respective injuries.
"The last 15km was very fast. We were riding full gas and they never had more than one minute, and they stay in front, so they must have ridden also incredibly hard," Philipsen said.
But he knew in the sprint that catching them was a lost cause.
"I saw there were two Lottos, and they will not gamble," he added.
The peloton will tackle a hilly Stage 19 on Friday (AEST) which will likely act as a transition stage to the gruelling penultimate day of the race where they enter the mountains for the final time.
