Michal Kwiatkowski and Richard Carapaz gave Team INEOS a Tour de France fillip as they crossed the stage 18 finish line arm in arm.
Riders of Team INEOS, previously known as Team Sky, have won seven of the previous eight Tours, and each of the previous five, but their great yellow jersey hope and defending champion Egan Bernal withdrew from this year's race on Wednesday due to a back injury.
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However, there was better news a day later as Carapaz seized the king of the mountains jersey and Kwiatkowski won the first stage of his career in his seventh Tour.
The team-mates were well clear of their rivals and were involved in discussions about how they should approach the finish line, with Carapaz just holding back to allow Kwiatkowski to marginally cross first.
Watch the final kilometre of stage 18 as @Kwiato & @RichardCarapazM celebrate a remarkable 1-2 victory #TDF2020 pic.twitter.com/U0NyPP4hBP
— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) September 17, 2020
Wout van Aert, a two-time stage winner at this year's Tour, was third, ahead of general classification leader Primoz Roglic and nearest rival Tadej Pogacar, who remains 57 seconds behind his fellow Slovenian in the race for yellow with only three stages to go.
Carapaz had been battling Marc Hirschi in the mountains but that ended when the Swiss youngster crashed with just under 80 kilometres to go, initially losing a minute on the leaders and falling further back as the race continued.
There was little to trouble yellow jersey holder Roglic, though, and at one point he put his hand on Pogacar's back in a relaxed manner while the two chatted with 14km to go.
Richie Porte, now fourth in the GC standings, had to fight back from suffering a puncture and he, along with Mikel Landa, were in the group to finish a second after Roglic and Pogacar.
A day to remember for Kwiatkowski
Kwiatkowski has been an under-appreciated cog to many outsiders amid the Team INEOS and Team Sky success of recent years, but he finally got his moment in the spotlight.
"I just can't describe how grateful I am to the whole team and to Richard," he said afterwards. "That was an incredible day for us and I will never forget that.
"I've had some nice moments in cycling but that was a new experience. I've got goosebumps because I knew the gap was so big that we were going to make it.
"Both of us enjoyed the last kilometres, that was incredible."
STAGE RESULT
1. Michal Kwiatkowski (Team INEOS) 4:47:33
2. Richard Carapaz (Team INEOS) +0:00
3. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) +1:51
4. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) +1:53
5. Tadej Pogacar (Team Emirates) +1:53
CLASSIFICATION STANDINGS
General Classification
1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 79:45:30
2. Tadej Pogacar (Team Emirates) +0:57
3. Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) +1:27
Points Classification
1. Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) 298 points
2. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) 246
3. Matteo Trentin (CCC) 235
King of the Mountains
1. Richard Carapaz (Team INEOS) 74
2. Tadej Pogacar (Team Emirates) 72
3. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 67
WHAT'S NEXT?
The final stage before the decisive time trial is a 166.5km flat run from Bourg-en-Bresse to Champagnole where the sprinters will get the chance to hit the headlines.
