Bardet gains slightly on Froome in race for yellow jersey

Chris Froome conceded four seconds to Romain Bardet on the Col d'Izoard but took another step towards his fourth Tour de France title as Warren Barguil won stage 18.

Froome was alongside Bardet on the finish line but it was the Frenchman who finished third behind Barguil and Darwin Atapuma to collect four bonus seconds and trim his deficit in second place to 23 seconds.

Colombian Rigoberto Uran, who began the day level with Bardet on the general classification, was a further two seconds back on the road, and now trails Froome by 29 overall.

Ireland's Dan Martin finished today's stage in eighth place and is up to sixth in the general classification.

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Froome has seen his advantage cut slightly, the main goal was to retain yellow on the final summit finish of this year’s Tour.

The Team Sky rider must now defend it over relatively flat territory on Friday’s stage to Salon-de-Provence before Saturday’s time trial in Marseille where he is expected to gain time.

For Barguil the stage victory — his second of this year’s Tour — underlined his superiority in the king of the mountains classification, which he has mathematically wrapped up, needing only to safely make it to Paris.