A brief look at Thursday’s 18th stage of the Tour de France:

Stage: Presented as the hardest stage in this year’s Tour, the 125-mile route from Pinerolo, Italy, to the top of the Col du Galibier certainly lived up to its billing.

Winner: Luxembourg rider Andy Schleck rode to a daring victory, crossing the line 2 minutes, 7 seconds ahead of his brother Frank after launching a solo attack around 36 miles from the finish..

Yellow Jersey: Thomas Voeckler of France remains in yellow, barely. He dug deep on the final climb to Galibier to hang on to the yellow jersey, but his lead shrank to 15 seconds over second-place Andy Schleck and 1 minute, 12 seconds on third-place Cadel Evans.

Today: The 68-mile stage takes riders back over the Galibier pass and finishes on the famed Alpe d’Huez, an 8 1/2-mile series of 21 switchbacks with an average gradient of 8 percent.

• More coverage, Page D4

— The Associated Press