the service park in Gap. The remaining six stages will be held on 26 January on roads to the west of Gap and features two passes over Vitrolles–Oze, which has featured on the route in previous years; and Roussieux–Eygalayes and Vaumeilh–Claret, both of which are new stages. The second leg is long and is primarily made up of stages east of the town. It features two passes over Agnières-en-Dévoluy–Corps and St.-Leger-les-Mélèzes–La-Bâtie-Neuve, both of which are heavily revised from previous years. The second leg concludes with a pass over Bayons–Bréziers, which was previously run on the first night of competition. After completing service in Gap, the cars return to Monaco. The third and final leg is long and run on stages in the Alpes-Maritimes department close to the Italian border. The short Lucéram—Col St. Roch stage was replaced by a shortened version of La Bollène-Vésubie–Peïra Cava, which features the Col de Turini and was as the Power Stage in 2017. The new La Cabanette–Col de Braus stage, run as SS15 and again as SS17 will take its place as the Power Stage before the cars return to Monaco once more for the ceremonial finish. Itinerary Report Pre-event Jêromé Degout, who was due to compete as Bryan Bouffier's co-driver, was injured during shakedown. He was replaced by Xavier Panseri for the rally. Thursday The opening leg of the rally started on the evening of 25 January and featured two stages: Thoard–Sisteron and the first pass over Bayons–Bréziers. Conditions proved to be difficult as the forecasted rain and snow did not materialise; however, there were icy conditions on the roads in the first few kilometres of Thoard–Sisteron. Several crews struggled, with Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul losing four minutes after sliding into a ditch. Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja also spun, as did Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia; however, unlike Neuville and Gilsoul, both crews were able to recover quickly. Ogier and Ingrassia went on to win both stages to take the overnight lead ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jæger in second and Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio in third. Friday Defending world champion Sébastien Ogier led the rally despite he had a spun today and lost about 40 seconds. Ott Tänak, who was first represent for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT in 2018 World Rally Championship, was second, 14.9 seconds off the pace. Andreas Mikkelsen, second overnight, conceded the position after