<P> The opening stage was won by Fernando Gaviria of Quick - Step Floors, who became the Tour's first rider to wear the general classification leader's yellow jersey . Peter Sagan (Bora--Hansgrohe) then took the race lead the following stage . BMC Racing Team won stage three's team time trial, putting their rider Greg Van Avermaet in yellow . He held the jersey for eight days until the second high mountain stage, where stage winner Thomas took the lead . He held it for the rest of the race to become the first Welshman to win the overall race . As a result, Team Sky--and additionally British riders--won six of the previous seven Tours dating back to 2012 . </P> <P> Sagan won the points classification for the sixth time, Julian Alaphilippe (Quick - Step Floors) won the mountains classification, and Pierre Latour of AG2R La Mondiale won the young rider classification . Movistar Team won the team classification, and UAE Team Emirates rider Dan Martin was named the most combative for the entire race . </P> <P> The 18 UCI WorldTeams were automatically invited to the race . On 6 January 2018, organisers of the Tour, the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), announced the four second - tier UCI Professional Continental teams that received a wildcard invitation to participate in the event . The four teams were Cofidis, Direct Énergie, Fortuneo--Samsic, from France and Belgium's Wanty--Groupe Gobert, all of which have participated in the race before . This meant that new French team Vital Concept, with their team leader, sprinter Bryan Coquard, missed out on the race . Christian Prudhomme wished the team the best in their inaugural season . The presentation of the teams--where the members of each team's roster are introduced in front of the media and local dignitaries--took place on Place Napoleon (fr) in the town of La Roche - sur - Yon on 5 July, two days before the opening stage . </P> <P> New rules by the cycling's governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) reduced the number of riders per team for Grand Tours from 9 to 8, resulting in a start list total of 176, instead of the usual 198 . Of these, 35 competed in their first Tour de France . The total number of riders that finished the race was 145 . The riders came from 30 countries . Seven countries had more than 10 riders in the race: France (35), Belgium (19), the Netherlands (13), Italy (13), Australia (11), Germany (11) and Spain (11). The average age of riders in the race was 29.37 years, ranging from the 21 - year - old Egan Bernal (Team Sky) to the 40 - year - old Franco Pellizotti (Bahrain--Merida). Groupama--FDJ had the youngest average age while Bahrain--Merida had the oldest . </P>

When will tour de france teams be announced