Sam Bennett extended his lead in the green jersey with three days of racing to go in the Tour de France as Michal Kwiatkowski won stage 18 on the 175km route from Meribel to La Roche-sur-Foron.
The Irish cyclist began the day 47 points clear of closest challenger Peter Sagan, but victory in the intermediate sprint pushed that advantage out to 52 points, with Italian Matteo Trentin a further 11 points adrift.
The only cause for concern was the time limit, but the 29-year-old came home in the final group 31 and a half minutes down on Kwiatkowski, but well inside the cut-off.
Kwiatkowski coasted over the line with team-mate Richard Carapaz, who moved into the polka dot jersey, the Ineos duo the final two survivors of what had been a 32-man breakaway, with Ineos Grenadiers salvaging their race following the withdrawal of champion Egan Bernal.
Carapaz had been battling Team Sunweb's Marc Hirschi for mountain points as both riders looked to overhaul Tadej Pogacar in the category, but a crash for Hirschi on a descent midway through the stage put Carapaz in the driving seat, and he now leads the category by two points from Pogacar.
The pair made the approach to La Roche-sur-Foron deep in conversation, patting each on the back under the flamme rouge, before Kwiatkowski crossed the line first to give the former world champion his first Grand Tour stage win.
It means Primoz Roglic holds a 57-second lead over fellow Slovenian Tadej Pohocar in the yellow jersey, with Colombian Miguel Angel Lopez a further 30 seconds back.
Dan Martin finished seven seconds ahead of Bennett and is in 42nd in the general classification, two hours 25 minutes behind Roglic in yellow.
Team Sunweb's Nicolas Roche finished the day just under 29 minutes behind the stage winner and lies in 62nd position.
