chris froome, tour de france
PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty

Can Chris Froome just about get it done on Thursday itself? The Kenya-born British cyclist is chasing a hattrick of Tour de France and going into stage 18 of Tour de France 2017, Froome is the leader of general classification or the yellow jersey winner.

Stage 18 of the race on Thursday sees the riders indulging in their final race in the mountains this year, from Briançon to Izoard in the Alps. The stage is 179.5 km long.

If Froome gets to keep the yellow jersey after making the steep climb of the Col d'Izoard, the winner is already decided by the end of the day. The 2,360m mountain pass Izoard may not be the longest summit of the tour but it is definitely the most challenging one, owing to a very steep average gradient.

Stage 17's Col du Galibier was the longest summit of Tour de France 2017.

"It will come down to Izoard, it will be the first big battle for climbers to win the Tour," former 3-time Tour de France winner spoke to Eurosport.

At the moment, Team Sky's Froome is 27 seconds ahead of the second-placed Uran Rigoberto and the third-placed Bardet Romain. If either of them want to catch up with Froome in the race for the yellow jersey, the better give their best on stage 18.

The ride so far has been like a roller coaster for Froome. The 32-year-old lost the coveted jersey after losing time during the drag up to the mountain on stage 12 to Fabio Aru. Froome, however, reclaimed that during an uphill sprint on stage 14.

Four stages remain in the Tour de France 2017 but the stage holding the biggest importance this year takes place on Thursday. Can Froome do it again?

Race schedule: Stage 18

  • Date: July 20
  • Time: 11:15 am BST onwards (3:45 pm IST)

Where to watch live

  • INDIA: While there will be no live broadcast or streaming available, you can watch the highlights of each stage on the following day in the D Sport channel.

Stage 18 Highlights - July 21 @ 6:30 pm IST.

The D Sport online portal also uploads the highlights package.