France's Romain Bardet of AG2r-La Mondiale won the 18th stage of the Tour de France, a 186.5-km trek from Gap on Thursday.
Dutchman Bauke Mollema, the strongest and smartest of the breakaway riders, who had three top 10 finishes on the Tour, won the 189.5-km stage from Laissac-Severac L'Eglise but the action was elsewhere.
Frenchman Romain Bardet timed his final effort perfectly to win the 12th stage of the Tour de France on Thursday, setting up a thrilling second half of the three-week race as defending champion Chris Froome showed a rare sign of weakness.
Stage eight winner Nans Peters had long crossed the line when fellow Frenchman Thibaut Pinot's ordeal ended after the Groupama-FDJ rider, highly fancied to become the first local winner of the race in 35 years, had been dropped in the second ascent of the 141-km trek through the Pyrenees.
Greg van Avermaet, one of cycling's nearly men, enjoyed a rare victory when he claimed the 13th stage of the Tour de France on Friday with a late burst of speed in an uphill finale.
'I just want to thank the whole team ... everybody it took to get to here.'
France's Sports Minister has given no assurance of the likelihood of the Tour de France being held this year.
All team members, riders and staff had until 1100 GMT on Monday, the Tour's first rest day, to take a test in the mobile laboratory provided by organisers.
Cycling teams are gearing up for the Tour de France to be held in August rather than the usual July, after French President Emmanuel Macron said big public events would be halted until mid-July as the country fights the COVID-19 pandemic. Marc Madiot, president of the French cycling league and director of the Groupama-FDJ cycling team, said Macron's comments, which included extending measures to slow the coronavirus outbreak, paved the way for the Tour to be held in August.
Chris Froome got a brutal reminder of the unpredictable nature of the Tour de France when he crashed to the ground in Sunday's second stage, recovering to finish with torn shorts as German Marcel Kittel powered to victory at the end of a huge sprint.
Overall leader Chris Froome put the hammer down on the Tour de France when the Briton humiliated his rivals in the first mountain test, winning the 10th stage in awe-inspiring fashion on Tuesday.
Alexis Vuillermoz earned the French their first victory on this year's Tour de France, his final kick proving too hot to handle for the big guns in the eighth stage on Saturday.
A look at the main Tour de France contenders ahead of Saturday's first stage, a 14-km individual time trial in Duesseldorf:
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