Burghardt takes Tour's 18th stage

SAINT ETIENNE, France, July 24 (UPI) -- Marcus Burghardt outdueled Carlos Barredo to claim Thursday's 18th stage of the 2008 Tour de France and Carlos Sastre retained the overall race lead.

Burghardt and Barredo separated themselves from the rest of the riders two-thirds of the way through the 118-mile run from Bourg-d'Oisans to Saint-Etienne and had only each other to ride against for the stage.

They battled through the final miles, each waiting of the other to make a change. It wasn't until the final 250 yards when Burghardt make a final push that Barredo couldn't quite catch. Both riders were credited with a stage time of 4 hours, 30 minutes, 21 seconds. Roman Feillu was third and Christophe Le Level fourth, both 3 minutes, 33 seconds behind the leaders.

Sastre was 37th in the stage but retained the overall lead by 1 minute, 24 seconds over Frank Schlenk with Bernhard Kohl another 9 seconds back and Cadel Evans a second behind Kohl.

There are three stages remaining this year's Tour de France. Friday's race is a 99.3-mile route from Roanne to Montucon.