Another breakaway world championships day, the last chance for many riders and teams to take an elusive win.Superlatives: a super stage with a super battle for the win and a super surprise battle behind among the GC contenders, all on the roads to Super Dvoluy. Its easy to use up the superlatives but it this was a fantastic days sport.The stage started with a bang as crosswinds split a nervous peloton and then wave after wave of attacks. Eventually quartet got clear with Tiesj Benoot, Romain Grgoire, Bob Jungels and Magnus Cort and they never had much more than a minutes lead. The intermediate sprint saw Biniam Girmay beat Jasper Philipsen for some points.With 55km to go a move initiated by Georg Zimmerman grew to 43 riders. This split on the Col Bayard out of Gap with Guillaume Martin and Valentin Madouas bridging across to the leaders in time for the Col du Noyer.Behind Simon Yates attacked and closed the gap in no time. Look in the picture above and Richard Carapaz is closing in too. Both flew past the break and soon Carapaz got across to Yates. It takes a lot to compete for a Tour stage but two were two grand tour winners at it. The Ecuadorian attacked on the steepest part of the pass and prised out a small lead. Once you give Carapaz five seconds good luck getting it back.EF have tried so many smart team moves in the race but this time Carapaz just floated clear in the big move and then rode everyone off his wheel on the main climb, even if the team had been busy earlier with Healy and Rui Costa. So a deserved win for him and the team and when hes this strong theres a chance of a repeat tomorrow or Saturday.We got two races for the price of one with Tadej Pogaar bullying Jonas Vingegaard on the Col du Noyer. Both had team mates all over the place. Pogaar attacked but later said he didnt really know why. Presumably he spotted Matteo Jorgenson was dropped, Vingegaard was isolated and just pounced on instinct?The surprise was seeing Evenepoel jump Vingegaard in pursuit. It came back together again on the descent with Vingegaard picking up team mate Christophe Laporte who had been up the road. Evenepoel attacked and got away. For all the moves he only earned ten seconds but confidence while Vingegaard only lost two seconds to Pogaar. It shows theyre all willing to attack each other and if Visma had sent several riders up the road they perhaps had plans too.The Route: 179km and 3,100m of vertical gain. The race goes the wrong way out of Gap, west when the finish is over to the east but this means it can take the Col du Festre, a long climb thats often got gentle 3-4% slopes but with 2km at over 7% before easing at the top. The race then tours the Champsaur region before heading back towards Gap.The Col de Manse is a gentle road up and no its not the descent of La Rochette but the main road down, more gentle. Its down to Chorges and instead of taking the quickest route to the Serre-Ponon lake theres the climb to Saint-Appolinaire, a regular road up but a technical descent.The lake is often windy and then its over to the the Demoiselles Coiffees climb, named after local rock formations. Its up the Ubaye valley, a drag alongside a white water river.The Finish: rather than the main road into town theres a turning with 5km to go and an unmarked climb, 1km at 5%, not much but sufficient for some to exploit if theyre not confident about out-sprinting rivals. Then the road levels out and its flat through town.The Contenders: todays stage is too much for the sprinters but open to almost everyone else. its the last chance for Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) but the question is whether he wants to push things that hard before the Olympics. His team mate Axel Laurance is quick in a sprint from a group too.A stage winner in the third week? Matej Mohori is an expert at this but his condition so far hasnt looked convincing. Similarly Micha Kwiatkowski (Ineos) has the race craft but is the form there? Likewise Michael Matthews (Jayco).Wout van Aert (Visma-LAB) is stage hunting and very suited to the course. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) is a longer shot. Movistars Alex Aranburu and Oier Lazkano fit too. Paul Lapeira (Decathlon-Ag2r) told Le Monde he broke his power records on the Troyes gravel stage but had nothing to show for it. Thats the Tour where everyone is at their best but he might be his teams best chance, along with Dorian Godon and both sprint well. Lidl-Trek have options with Jasper Stuyven, Carlos Verona and Toms Skuji.Some riders went in the move yesterday could be tired but by the third week riders who make the break one day can repeat as theyre the ones still with something left. Magnus Cort (Uno-X) was out for a long time but sprints well, Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) wasnt out for as long but doesnt finish so fast.WvA, MvdP, HealyLazkano, TJH, Aranburu, Matthews, Kwiatkowski, StuyvenWeather: sunshine and 30C in the valleys.TV: KM0 is at 1.20pm CEST and the finish is forecast for 5.45pm CEST. Tune in to watch the battles rage from the start.Postcard from GapThats the lower slopes of the Col Bayard. Cycling has hundreds of famous climbs but descents? There are not many. Some come as a package, the climb of the Poggio can be as decisive as the descent. Perhaps we ought to label notable descents infamous as often their reputation is not because of the delightful bends nor the views but because of race incidents.Just across from the Bayard is the Col de Manse. This must be more famous for the racing down it than up although the real name for the descent ought to be La Rochette as the Tour hasnt always tacked the Manse before. Its where Joseba Beloki had his horror crash in 2003, a day with one of those TV-moments when Lance Armstrong avoided danger by riding through a field. In recent years the likes of Thor Hushovd and Peter Sagan have given masterclasses in what the French call pilotage. Andy and Franck Schleck were distanced here in 2011 by Cadel Evans, the Australian climbing up to second place that day and not just taking time but gaining a psychological advantage. In 2013 Chris Froome came a cropper. Geraint Thomas crashed in 2015 unscathed but he lost his trademark Oakleys.Its been thrilling but is it that dangerous? The tension and risk-taking has come because the finish has often been in Gap just after the descent. At 4km with an average of 7.5% its no black ski piste but the difficulty is in in irregularity, a small backroad with an uneven surface and a mix of hairpins and some bends where you dont have to brake but might do just to be safe.Today everyone is spared the descent because after the Col de Manse the road continues down the larger road and wont take the Rochette ramp down to Gap, plus its mid-stage so the stress is reduce. It does beg the question of whether La Rochette will feature again given the more safety-conscious themes today.The post Tour de France Stage 18 Preview first appeared on The Inner Ring.