Ineos Grenadiers suffered another bitter disappointment in the Tour de France after Victor Campenaerts, of Lotto-Dstny, outsprinted the former world champion Michal Kwiatkowski to win stage 18 in Barcelonnette.

Kwiatkowski, a winner of Tour stages in 2020 and 2023, took third from a three-rider breakaway, which also included the French rider Mattéo Vercher, after being outfoxed by the breakaway specialist Campenaerts, one of the peloton’s classic baroudeurs.

It was yet another body blow for the British team, who had already suffered disappointment on stage nine, when Tom Pidcock finished second after being unexpectedly outsprinted by Vercher’s TotalEnergies teammate Anthony Turgis.

If Kwiatkowski was disappointed, the 23-year-old Tour debutant Vercher was inconsolable, sobbing uncontrollably beyond the finish line. “You don’t get a chance like this every day,” he said, after finishing second.

With Ineos Grenadiers struggling to rekindle past glories, Kwiatkowski may second that emotion.

For have-a-go-hero Campenaerts, the impact of his first Tour stage win was overwhelming. He too was in tears, as he spoke to his partner and baby son, Gustaf, on FaceTime as soon as he had rolled to a halt.

“I always have big objectives,” the Belgian, who spent nine weeks training at altitude before the Tour, said. “To race the Tour is special, to finish is great and to win a stage is incredible.”

On another hot day, with temperatures peaking in the mid-30s, the overall contenders finally took a back seat. In a Tour that has been bereft of breakaways, this was finally the big chance for the escape artists, as the race leader, Tadej Pogacar, of UAE Team Emirates, second-placed Jonas Vingegaard, of Visma-Lease a Bike, and Remco Evenepoel, of Soudal Quick-Step, finally allowed them free rein.

Most teams were represented in the initial break of 37 riders, which included the Ineos Grenadiers pair Geraint Thomas and Kwiatkowski, as well as Richard Carapaz, of EF Education-EasyPost, the winner of stage 17.

As the day wore on, the lead group gradually reduced in number, but with the peloton riding 10 minutes in arrears, it was clear that the stage winner would come from the escapers.

Thomas and Kwiatkowski were among the most active in the final hour of racing, with the Welshman trying his hand on the bridge crossing the Lac de Serre-Ponçon and Kwiatkowski then riding clear towards the top of the final recognised climb, the category three Côte des Demoiselles Coiffées.

Kwiatkowski’s lone initiative was followed by Campenaerts and Vercher, but the trio were chased all the way to the finish by a five-rider group that included the former Giro d’Italia champion Jai Hindley, of Bora-Hansgrohe.

With his track record in tight sprints, the smart money was on Kwiatkowski, but it was another disappointing result for a team that now find themselves struggling to make a meaningful impact in a race they once dominated.

“When we started the race, we certainly had aspirations,” Ineos’s newly appointed performance director, Scott Drawer, told the Guardian. “You come here to win, to get on to the podium and to win stages. Things haven’t necessarily played out our way and it’s unfortunate that we have been hit by illness.”

But Drawer acknowledged that there was much ground to be made up. “There is no doubt, and the evidence shows, that racing has changed,” he said. “The data doesn’t lie. You look at some of Pogacar’s performances and Vingegaard’s performances, on some of the climbs, and they are the best there has ever been.

“From our perspective we know there’s a gap. We’re trying to study and understand that, and we will certainly be looking to close that gap in the next few years.”

Friday’s stage 19, from Embrun to Isola 2000, is perhaps the hardest of the Tour, given that it falls only 48 hours before the closing time trial in Nice.

The 144.6km stage includes three monstrous climbs, the Col de Vars, at 2,109 metres altitude, the vertiginous Cime de la Bonette, at 2,802 metres, and the 16km haul to another high-altitude summit finish at Isola 2000.