Richie Porte fights back from a puncture to retain fourth place in Tour de France

Richie Porte was forced to ride like a man possessed to hang on to his fourth place overall after suffering a puncture at a crucial time

Australia’s Richie Porte on the section of gravel where he suffered a puncture

Australian Richie Porte was forced to ride like a man possessed to hang on to his fourth place overall after suffering a puncture at a crucial time on the mountainous stage 18 of the Tour de France.

As the Tour hit a section of gravel rode, 27km from the finish, Porte was in the yellow jersey group chasing a breakaway containing eventual winner Michal Kwiatkowski when he suffered a front-tyre puncture.

It took more than 30 seconds for the team car to arrive with a new bike and Porte was left 45 seconds behind race leaders Primoz Roglic, Tadej Pogacar and Miguel Angel Lopez.

But the Australian refused to give in, throwing himself into the pursuit on a twisting decent and catching the yellow jersey group with 9km to go.

Porte finished sixth on the stage and lost no time to the leaders.

“I didn’t know Richie Porte had a puncture,” Pogacar said. “We knew he was dropped … but now I know and I’m glad he came back because it would have been unfortunate had he lost his place due to bad luck.”

Porte remains more than three minutes behind Roglic and victory in the tour is now out of reach. However, he is only 1min 39secs behind Lopez, and with only a flat stage and a time trial before the final procession into Paris, he remains a chance of a podium position. Lopez, like many of the Colombian riders, has wings in the mountains but will come back to earth on the flat.

Britain’s Ineos team, who have otherwise had a disappointing Tour, claimed a one-two finish on the stage.

Kwiatkowski took the stage as Ineos teammate Richard Carapaz picked up the King of the Mountains jersey, with the pair crossing the finish line two minutes ahead of the elite pack.

“I had the best legs ever, the way we rode together with Richard was just incredible,” said Kwiatkowski, a former world champion.

Giro d’Italia champion Carapaz has been a revelation over the three Alpine stages that culminated with the Ineos-led escape here as the Ecuadorean has relentlessly attacked, picking up climb points to take the polka dot jersey.

Although Carapaz is just two points ahead of the 21-year-old Pogacar in the mountains classification, with the form he is showing he may hold on to the polka dot jersey all the way to Paris.

“We will do everything we can, we have much to think about,” Carapaz said after the Ineos double act saved face on a tough Tour for the British team, who won the previous five editions.

Carapaz must now better the Slovenian over Friday’ nights one small climb and the Saturday time trial featuring the Planches des Belles Filles climb, adding further drama and a possible twist to a lively Tour de France finale.

Carapaz was drafted into the race at the last minute as Geraint Thomas was farmed out to the Giro, but he fell on stage one in the deluge in Nice and is only finding his full form now.

Roglic once again looked at ease during the run over three major mountains. “I managed to relax, everything went fine, another good day for us,” he said.

“I’ve been thinking about the time trial, I’ll make the decision how I play it on the day.”

Additional reporting: AFP