Tour de France leader Chris Froome has survived a thrilling Col d'Izoard climb while Australia's green jersey favourite Michael Matthews remains well clear after an exhilarating 18th stage.
Three-time winner Froome held on to his yellow jersey as Frenchman Romain Bardet's hopes of mounting a decisive attack fizzled out, while Matthews remains 160 points clear of his nearest rival Andre Greipel.
More Sports HQ Videos
Tour de France: Barguil wins stage 18
Team Sky's Chris Froome took a huge step towards winning a fourth Tour de France as French rider Warren Barguil won stage 18's 179.5 kilometre route from Briancon to Izoard on Thursday.
Froome, however, will leave the mountains with a slim lead with two rivals within 30 seconds of him.
But after staving off a concerted charge in the Alps by Frenchman Romain Bardet (Ag2r) on Thursday's 18th stage, the prospect of a fourth Tour win looks to be on the cards.
![Chris Froome holds a slender lead in the Tour de France](http://web.archive.org./web/20170721044618im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/a/y/9/6/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxfkyi.png/1500589339255.jpg)
Despite Froome's narrow margins of 23 seconds on Bardet and 29s on Colombian Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac), his Spanish teammate Mikel Landa believed that Froome has the Tour victory in the bag, saying: "Even though the Tour isn't over until you cross the line, I believe we sewed it up."
Froome was understandably cautious "It is still very close and still at this point anything could happen," Froome said.
Froome went in to Thursday's second day in the Alps, with a 27 second overall lead, but Bardet leapfrogged Uran into second thanks to a time bonus for finishing third on the stage.
The stage was won by King of the Mountains leader Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb), his second victory of this Tour.
In second at 20s was Colombia's Darwin Atapuma (UAE), followed by Bardet, Froome and Uran.
Froome's rivals were not rewarded for their efforts, especially on the iconic ascent of the Col d'Izoard. Bardet, whose team set a ferocious tempo to the foot of the Izoard, launched two attacks in the last three kilometres of that final climb shortly after Landa set off in a bid to fight for the podium. But once again, those attacks were reeled in by Froome with Uran on his wheel.
"I gave everything. I thought I couldn't breathe after the finish line," Bardet said. "I knew that I would attack above 2000m and I knew it would cause damages.
"My teammates did a great job to harden the race. I played tactics, I acted next to Froome like I was not feeling well and then I did my attack before the descent. Everybody dreamed about a big move, but I am in the reality. There were many Sky riders around Froome and a bit of front wind in Izoard.
"I knew that I had to make one sharp attack ... We raced to win today. I tried to make a distance with Froome, but I didn't succeed trying it. I have no regret. I gave everything."
Froome even tried his hand, attacking with 22km to go, hoping to bridge across and join Landa, then extend his lead and try for a perfect one-two with his Spanish teammate.
But likewise, his moved was covered by Uran and Bardet
"It was a bit of a threat for the other general classification guys," Froome said of Landa's attack. "It was their podium position he was threatening. Certainly, I was thinking more about the 'GC', but I felt good and had a teammate in front with Landa. The plan was to get to Mikel and for the two of us go to the finish line, but Rigoberto was quick to respond."
In the race for overall victory though, Friday's 19th stage is unlikely to offer opportunity for Froome's rivals to take back time – barring accident - as it is likely to see a break of non-contenders fight for the win, or a group sprint.
Any real chance of deposing Froome before Sunday's finish in Paris - or for anyone to move up in the overall classification - now exists in Saturday's 22.5km time trial in Marseille.
Meanwhile, the Australian Orica-Scott team's hopes of British teammate Simon Yates holding on to his white jersey as best young rider firmed after he finished ninth at 59s to remain in seventh place overall at 4m 46s to Froome – Yates' nearest challenger is South African Louis Meintjes (UAE) in 8th at 6m 52s.
with Reuters
ReutersÂ