Stage 18 was a standard Tour de France transitional stage. With the race moving from the Alps to the Jura and the Vosges, this stage was generally flat, straight, and low on energy. The initial plan for this stage was to shoot in Belley, Amberieu en Bugey, and the finish in Bourg en Bresse. However, the Tour often follows the major roads on these stages, leaving few options to jump the race to the next location. That eliminated Amberieu en Bugey from the list, leaving a two stop plan. Belley was a beautiful village, but unfortunately the Tour went through the outskirts. Trade a beautiful church for a TotalEnergies station. Vomit.

Oh did that plan go wrong. Immediately after leaving Belley, it was obvious that the trip was going to be tight. It was always a matter of minutes between the expected arrival of the Beyond Horizon team car and the peloton… in both directions. Great.

The famous TDF road book had the route to the finish using one exit, but the media WhatsApp thread ended up mentioning a different exit (the following one) as the best route into Bourg en Bresse. Figuring the WhatsApp thread was the best idea, we pivoted and immediately discovered any chance of getting to the finish was gone. Great. However, the first stroke of luck on the day came quickly after when we exited the highway and a gendarme immediately waved us into a roundabout right at 3km to go on the race route. The steady stream of motorcycles could mean only one thing: the race was seconds from coming through!

What seemed like an utter disaster, turned out pretty okay. Anticipating a sprint finish, the TDF officials pulled all media and most photographers from the finish straight. So, the photos probably wouldn’t have been that great anyway. We also got to follow at the end of the race convoy down the finish straight, which was a very cool experience.

I made it this far never mentioning the actual race. That’s because it was a major snooze fest until the 3km to go. The breakaway consisted of 3-5 riders for the entirety of the day. The peloton never gave them more than about 90 seconds, setting up a sure sprint finish. Then, something happened. The final 2km was very technical with a wide road quickly narrowing into a left hand turn before opening up again. Somehow through all of that, Alpecin mistimed their lead out. The breakaway stole a win with just a few meters to spare. Gotta love it.

Distance driven: 311 km

Photos taken: 781

Pain au Chocolat consumed: 0. Nothin. Nada.

Salle Presse drinks consumed: 0. Never saw this press room.

Next Up: Le Tour Stage 19