Marcus Burghardt from team Columbia won stage 18 of the 2008 Tour de France after beating fellow break-away Carlos Barredo in the sprint at the finish line in Saint-Étienne on July 24.

As the peloton left the Alps after two exhausting stages in the high mountains, the contenders in the general classification and their teams showed little interest in chasing escapees, but other teams would relentlessly reel in early attackers.

Barredo attacked 68km into the 196.5km stage and was quickly joined by Burghardt and Romain Feillu, who briefly wore the yellow jersey earlier in this year's Tour. Feillu was later dropped and made up a trio of chasers together with Mikel Astarloza and Christophe Le Mevel.

Burghardt and Barredo at one point held a lead of nearly 11 minutes over the main pack of riders, but instead of working together to keep their chasers at bay, began toying with each other. It was a game that the German would win, to bring his team the fifth stage in this year's Tour, adding to Mark Cavendish' tally of four.

“It’s amazing because we have had such success already in this team and now I can’t believe it that I have also taken a victory in the Tour de France," the stage winner said, as quoted by the Tour's official website letour.com.

“Near the end of the stage, Carlos [Barredo] and I exchanged a few words and he said that he wouldn’t work anymore because he thought that I am faster in the sprint and it turns out that I had better legs in the end," Burghardt said.

The peloton finished more than six minutes behind the stage winner, with Carlos Sastre retaining the yellow jersey of the overall race leader. Oscar Freire keeps the green jersey of the leader in the sprinters' classification and Bernhard Kohl will wear the polka dots of the leader in the climbers' standings.

The Tour's next stage, 165.5km between Roanne and Montluçon, will give the leaders more time to catch their breath before the time trial on July 25, the last stage that could shake up the stadings in the general classification.