Tour de France 2019 new - Did Egan Bernal attack on orders from Geraint Thomas or Team Ineos?

Thursday’s stage was won by Nairo Quintana, who soloed to victory in Valloire, and while Julian Alaphilippe battled to retain the yellow jersey, Bernal crucially moved above Thomas into second place.

Having opted to attack a few kilometres from the summit of the Galibier - around 22km from the finish - Bernal ultimately gained 32 seconds on Thomas and now trails Alaphilippe by 1’30”.

Thomas meanwhile waited until the steep hairpin bends above the tunnel before putting in his own attack, ultimately leaving his own attack too late as Alaphilippe roared back.

And afterwards, there appeared to be mixed messages about who gave Bernal the order to attack earlier.

"We wanted a hard pace, and unfortunately we were running out of guys and it didn't seem quite hard enough, so the call was made for Egan to jump and hopefully that would kick it off, but it didn't really," Thomas said.

"[Enric] Mas rode and then they were just riding tempo again. That’s why I had a little dig to see if anything would happen, but they obviously followed me over the top."

Above, Thomas claimed “the call was made”, but Bernal went on to suggest it was Thomas who allowed his team-mate to attack first.

"He asked me how I was feeling, and I said, 'Really good', and he said, 'OK, you try to attack to move the race', and I did. He attacked from behind to try to come with me, but in the end the other guys came in his wheel and he stayed behind them," Bernal said.

"These are decisions you have to take in the race, and it depends from day to day how you're feeling. I have to say thanks to G for being honest today."

On gaining time, Bernal added: "I’m very happy. The truth is that it’s always good for morale to gain time, and I gained some important time on Alaphilippe today. We’re still second, but we gained time on him, so that’s good.

"But I’m second and Alaphilippe is still top. You have to accept it, he’s been stronger throughout the race as a whole. The way he attacked in the first week was amazing – he was on another level. In the mountains we thought he was not a pure climber, but we've not been able to dislodge him yet, so he's the strongest. If he carries on like this it will be impossible to beat him."

Speaking on #TheBreakaway after Stage 18, Bradley Wiggins told Eurosport that Team Ineos left their attacks too late to trouble Alaphilippe.

He said: “I was a bit disappointed because they left it too late. I wondered why the didn’t do it 5km before. There’s only one way you’re going to get rid of Alaphilippe, you can’t give him any chance to get back because we know the great descender that he is.

“I don’t know if they’ve got the confidence themselves to think they’re better than Julian. Bernal was the only one who really tried to make some gains today, but you have to think if he tried 5km before then he could have gone much further.”