Bardet breaks clear to claim second French stage victory of 2015 Tour de France

Romain Bardet secured France's stage victory of the 2015 Tour de France ©AFP/Getty Images

Romain Bardet secured a second French triumph of the 2015 Tour de France as he rode alone for the final 40 kilometres of the 186.5km leg from Gap to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to claim stage 18 of the three-week race.

Bardet was one of seven Frenchman involved in a 29-man breakaway which formed as the peloton approached the first climb of the day at the Col Bayard, just 6.5km into the race, with the move instigated by one of the home favourites, Pierre Rolland.

Their cooperation continued for the opening 100km of the stage but as they approached steep ascent of the 1,924m Col du Glandon at 75km to the finish, the breakaway began to splinter, with a new lead group of 11 forming, including both Bardet and Rolland.

The pair were joined by fellow French riders Thomas Voeckler and Thibaut Pinot, the latter nursing an injury sustained crashing on a descent yesterday, while Spain's Joaquim Rodriquez was also among the select group as he searched for his third stage victory of this year's race.

In the final four kilometres of the climb an acceleration from Rolland threatened to take the 28-year-old clear, only for his move to be countered by Colombia's Winner Anacona and Bardet.

Upon catching Rolland and reaching the summit of the Col du Glandon, Bardet launched an attack of his own on the descent and quickly built up a 30 second advantage on his rivals.

The 24-year-old, sixth on the general classification last year, negotiated the spectacular harpin climb up the Lacets de Montvernier at 10km to the finish, before riding solo to cross the line at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in a time of 5 hours 03min 40sec, ahead of a forlorn Rolland, who ended 33 seconds down in seconds.

Chris Froome negotiated the final climb of the day up the Lacets de Montvernier with ease to maintain his overall lead ©AFP/Getty Images

Chris Froome's overall race lead remained unscathed for another day. despite once again facing attacks from his rivals, most noticeably Spain's Alberto Contador,as he maintained his 3min 10sec advantage on second place Nairo Quintana of Colombia.

The Briton is confident that, with only two tough Alpine stages left of the race to go, he is on course to claim his second Tour de France victory, having won the 100th edition of the race in 2013.

Froome also admitted to having his eye on the final climb of the race at Alpe d'Huez on Saturday's (July 25) stage, which would provide a final test before the ceremonial stage into Paris the following day.

"I'm quite confident that I'm in control of the situation," he said.

"There are two really hard stages to do, I hope to come through those two stages with no problem.

"It'll be our last challenge, we can expect a grand finale.

"We've done harder climbs than l'Alpe d'Huez during this Tour de France but that's a mythical one."

His next challenge, though, will be the 138km stage 19 from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to La Toussuire, featuring a 2,067 metres climb up the Col de la Croix de Fer.