It's often a tough task to tell at a glance which teams are doing well at the Tour de France, there are 22 of them going around France, each with their own objectives and strengths.
So borrowing a tool from other sports, Cycling Central will run a Power Rankings during this Tour de France. It's a quick guide from stage to stage of which teams are excelling and which are unlucky or faring poorly.
1. Team Sky (no change)
Well, it's official now. Geraint Thomas is the leader of the team. Chris Froome showed some weakness in the last few kilometres and Tom Dumoulin smelled blood in the water and pounced. Egan Bernal paced Froome the rest of the way, but looked significantly stronger than the four-time Tour champion.
Thankfully for Team Sky, Thomas once again showed himself to be the best climber in the race, covering the moves and then coming over the top in the finish to take even more time. He'll be hard to displace unless he has one of his infamous 'bad days'.
Bad news for Froome post-race as he was brought to the tarmac by a gendarme, Thomas was lucky to avoid the same fate as a fan grabbed at him.
Best Results: 2nd - Team Time Trial, 1st (Stages 11,12), 3rd (Stage 17) Yellow Jersey - Geraint Thomas, 3rd (Stage 11) 2nd GC - Chris Froome
2. Quick-Step Floors (no change)
Another classy showing by Julian Alaphilippe secured his hold on the polka dot jersey, which he'll wear in Paris if he finishes the race.
He didn't have anything to go with Tanel Kangert on the final ascent, but he can probably be forgiven that given his attacking performances throughout the Tour.
Best Results: 1st (Stages 1,4), 2nd (Stage 7), 1 day in Yellow - Fernando Gaviria, 1st (Stage 10, 16), 2nd (Stage 14), KOM jersey - Julian Alaphilippe, 3rd (Stage 5) - Philippe Gilbert , 3rd (Stage 9) - Yves Lampaert, 13th GC - Bob Jungels, 3rd Team Time Trial.
3. BORA-hansgrohe (no change)
The battle for the breakaway saw Austrian Gregor Muhlberger make the split for the second day in a row, he's clearly got some good legs at the moment.
The big news for the squad on the stage was Peter Sagan's crash, with the Slovakian's Tour now up in the air as the team is yet to decide whether he will take the start line for Stage 18. Given that he only needs to limp into Paris to win the green jersey and only one hard stage left in the race, it would be surprising if the world champion failed to start.
Best Results: 1st (Stages 2,5,13), 2nd (Stages 1,4,8), 3rd (Stage 7), 1 day in Yellow, Green Jersey - Peter Sagan.
4. LottoNL-Jumbo (no change)
Primoz Roglic looked every bit the grand tour rider as he led multiple attacks on the final climb before making the crucial split with Dumoulin and Thomas.
He'll want to continue taking time in the mountains, but Roglic is also a formidable time-triallist, and could even overhaul Froome in the race against the clock.
Steven Kruijswijk sits in 6th overall after a nice performance on the Col du Portet.
Best Results: 1st (Stages 7+8) - Dylan Groenewegen, 4th GC - Primoz Roglic, 6th GC - Steven Kruijswijk
5. Team Sunweb (no change)
Tom Dumoulin bumped himself up above Froome to take a handy lead for the runner-up spot. He still has a figurative mountain to climb if he wants to overtake Thomas however.
Dumoulin is one of the most open riders with his time after stages and it's clear that he feels that beating Thomas might be a bit too hard a task at this year's Tour.
Best Results: 2nd (Stages 11,12), 3rd GC - Tom Dumoulin
6. Movistar (up one position)
What a day for Movistar, the sort of performance that fans across the world have been expecting from the Spanish squad. Alejandro Valverde was again the catalyst, jumping away in the break to provide the bridge for Quintana to accelerate his way up the mountain.
Quintana himself has seemingly recovered the form that missing in the early stages of the race, he flew up the final climb and climbed his way up to fifth on GC. Still not what Movistar would have hoped for before the Tour, but a win on one of the biggest stages is a very nice consolation.
Best Results: 1st (Stage 17) 5th GC- Nairo Quintana, 3rd (Stage 6), 11th GC - Alejandro Valverde, 7th GC - Mikel Landa
7. Astana (down one position)
Another prominent effort in the breakaway, this time from Tanel Kangert, who has been pretty quiet otherwise in this Tour. The last man caught from the early break, and one of the most aggressive in the move, forcing splits.
Jakob Fuglsang dropped off before the big attacks came, but his losses have all been minimised and he sits in a commendable 10th spot.
They only move down due to a perfectly executed stage from Movistar and Quintana.
Best Result: 1st (Stage 14) - Omar Fraile, 1st (Stage 15) Magnus Cort Nielsen, 10th GC - Jakob Fuglsang
8. UAE Team Emirates (up two positions)
Dan Martin launched his audacious attack from near the base of the climb, and despite getting dropped early by Quintana hung tough to finish second on the stage. The Irishman has been consistently one of the most entertaining riders each mountain stage and is one of the reasons for fans to flick on the TV.
Best Results: 1st (Stage 6), 2nd (Stage 17), 10th GC - Dan Martin, 2nd (Stage 13) - Alexander Kristoff
9. Bahrain Merida (down one position)
It was going to be a hard one for the breakaway riders to win with the GC riders intent on a stage victory, but Bahrain Merida had Franco Pellizotti winding back the years in the early move.
Best Results: 2nd (Stages 2+5) - Sonny Colbrelli, 2nd (Stages 10+15) - Ion Izagirre, 2nd (Stage 16) - Gorka Izagirre
10. BMC (down one position)
Stage 18 to Pau looms as an important one for squad, with a good chance for Greg van Avermaet to take a stage win. With Peter Sagan injured and Arnaud Demare only just scraping inside the cut the last few stages, there's unlikely to be much of a chase from the sprint teams. It looks like a perfect stage for a van Avermaet or perhaps a Stefan Kung win.
Best Results: 1st - Team Time Trial, 2nd (Stage 9), 8 days in Yellow Jersey - Greg van Avermaet
11. Trek-Segafredo (no change)
Nothing doing here. Will they chase for Degenkolb tomorrow?
Best Results: 1st (Stage 9) - John Degenkolb, 3rd (Stage 14) - Jasper Stuyven, 3rd (Stage 15) Bauke Mollema, 5 days in KOM jersey - Tom Skuijns
12. AG2R-La Mondiale (no change)
Romain Bardet had a poor day, slipping three spots down to eighth as he clearly didn't have the legs to do anything when the pace went on.
Pierre Latour appears to have won his one-on-one battle for the white jersey with Guillame Martin of Wanty-Groupe Gobert. He still can't afford to crack and lose masses of time, in that case either Martin or Egan Bernal could take the classification off him.
Best Results: 2nd (Stage 6), 14th GC, White Jersey - Pierre Latour, 8th GC - Romain Bardet
13. Mitchelton-Scott (no change)
Adam Yates and Mikel Nieve tried their luck from the breakaway, but they were on a hiding to nothing. They had the right idea though, they'll be very keen to get Daryl Impey in with a shot for Stage 18.
Best Results: 5th - Team Time Trial, 3rd (Stage 16) Adam Yates
14. Direct Energie (no change)
A quiet day for the French squad, Lilian Calmejane did lead off the early attacks and gave the squad a bit of air time.
Best Result: 3rd (Stage 10) - Rein Taaramae
15. Groupama- FDJ (no change)
David Gaudu produced a very nice ride, proving that he might be the sort of rider to try riding for grand tour wins in the future. He rode within the main peloton and stuck it out until the group of favourites was down to ten riders.
Best Result: 3rd (Stages 2,13) - Arnaud Demare
16. Cofidis (no change)
Jesus Herrada has tried valiantly in a few early escapes, but he hasn't quite picked his way through to finding that perfect move.
Best Results: 5th (Stages 1+7) Christophe Laporte
17. Katusha-Alpecin (no change)
Ilnur Zakarin moved up two spots on the general classification, but it has been an anonymous performance from the Russian and the squad for much of the race.
Best Results: 3rd - Marcel Kittel - Stage 1, 12th GC Ilnur Zakarin
18. Lotto Soudal (up one position)
Nothing going on today, they only move up because Wanty-Groupe Gobert moved down.
Best Result: 3rd - Andre Greipel - Stage 4
19. Wanty-Groupe Gobert (down one position)
Guillame Martin's battle with Pierre Latour for the white jersey has seemingly gone beyond reach now. Hopefully that means the squad will return to what they should be doing, which is trying to win stages.
Best Results: 3 days in KOM jersey - Dion Smith, 15th GC - Guillame Martin
20. Fortuneo-Samsic (no change)
Haven't looked like winning a stage and only offered a brief glimmer of hope that they might snatch the polka dot jersey. Will need to go on the offensive in the final few days.
Best Result: 1 day in KOM jersey - Kevan Ledanois
21. Dimension Data (no change)
Stage 18 might be their best chance of a win for the whole Tour. They'll need to stack the breakaway.
Best Result: 5th (Stage 10) - Serge Pauwels
22. EF Education First-Drapac (no change)
Daniel Martinez has looked perky in the most recent stages, unfortunately he's a bit out-matched by some of the climbers that he's going up against at this point in the race.
Best Result: N/A
The Tour de France continues with Stage 18 to the traditional finishing town of Pau.
Coverage of Stage 18 will start from 9.30 pm (AEST) on SBS HD, also avaliable on the SKODA Tour Tracker App and via live web streaming on SBS Cycling Central.
