France’s Arnaud Demare won the Tour de France’s flat 18th stage on Thursday, after finishing last on Tuesday and next to last on Wednesday in mountain stages.
Demare edged countryman Christophe Laporte and Norwegians Alexander Kristoff and Edvald Boasson Hagen.
Brit Geraint Thomas retained his 1-minute, 59-second lead over the Netherland’s Tom Dumoulin in the overall standings. The top 10 standings remained the same.
Demare benefited from the mountains depleting the sprint field the last two weeks. Fernando Gaviria and Dylan Groenewegen, who both won two stages on this Tour, along with Andre Greipel all abandoned the race last week, while 30-stage winner Mark Cavendish and Marcel Kittel failed to make a time cut in the Alps.