Richard Carapaz has been knocking on the door since Stage 1 of this Tour de France, launching attack after attack only to see each one reeled back in. On Stage 18, the Olympic champion finally got his reward.
The EF Education-EasyPost leader timed his move to perfection on the final climb to Orcières-Merlette, riding clear of an elite breakaway to claim a superb solo victory – his second career Tour stage win. Behind him, Mauro Schmid edged Matteo Jorgenson in the sprint for second after both were unable to match Carapaz’s decisive acceleration.
With three consecutive mountain stages on the menu, Stage 18 from Voiron to Orcières-Merlette (185.2km) marked the opening salvo.
The profile wasn’t brutally steep until the finish, but the constant succession of climbs—the Côte d’Engins (11.4km at 5.4%), Côte de Monteynard (9.7km at 5.2%), Côte des Terrasses (3.3km at 6.7%), and finally the 7.1km ascent to Orcières-Merlette averaging 6.7%—promised another day where the breakaway specialists would have their chance.
Full Gas From Kilometer Zero
After 25 flat kilometres, the fireworks began.
Jonas Abrahamsen, Nicolas Vinokurov, Lewis Askey, Aaron Gate and Mathis Le Berre formed the day’s first escape, but the peloton quickly swept them up as the road tilted skyward onto the Côte d’Engins.
That only opened the floodgates.
EF Education-EasyPost were determined not to miss the move this time, throwing both Richard Carapaz and Ben Healy into repeated attacks. Behind them, the pace proved too much for several key domestiques, with UAE Emirates-XRG losing Florian Vermeersch, Tim Wellens and Brandon McNulty before the race had properly settled.
Valentin Paret-Peintre, wearing the polka-dot jersey while Tadej Pogačar occupied yellow, claimed maximum points atop the first climb ahead of Carapaz, keeping the mountains competition alive.
Arensman, Pedersen and Jorgenson Animate the Race
A more substantial move finally escaped over the summit.
Thymen Arensman was joined by Matteo Jorgenson, Tobias Halland Johannessen, Pablo Castrillo, Felix Engelhardt, Nicolas Breuillard and Green Jersey leader Mads Pedersen.
Pedersen had obvious ambitions. The intermediate sprint came after 130 kilometres, but first he still had two categorized climbs to survive.
The race, however, refused to calm down.
Romain Grégoire bridged solo. Then another dangerous wave arrived featuring Carapaz, Egan Bernal, Mauro Schmid, Mathias Vacek, Raúl García Pierna and Paret-Peintre. A third chase group, nearly thirty riders strong, including Ben Healy, Quinn Simmons and Alex Baudin, never quite managed to reconnect.
Pedersen eventually collected maximum points at the intermediate sprint, stretching his Green Jersey advantage over Jasper Philipsen to 32 points. Up front, Paret-Peintre continued harvesting mountain points, moving within seven of Pogačar in the King of the Mountains competition.
The Winning Move Takes Shape
Inside the final 50 kilometres, the race split again.
Schmid, Johannessen, Jorgenson and García Pierna slipped clear before Carapaz and Paret-Peintre bridged across to create a select group of six.
Behind them, Arensman emptied himself working for teammate Egan Bernal, but the gap only continued to grow.
Jorgenson tested his companions several times, including over the Côte de Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes, but nobody could establish daylight. The six leaders arrived together at the foot of the final climb with the stage victory still completely up for grabs.
Meanwhile, unfortunate news filtered through the race caravan.
Brandon McNulty abandoned after struggling with injuries sustained when he was hit by a car before Tuesday’s individual time trial – a significant loss for Pogačar and UAE Emirates-XRG heading into the decisive Alpine stages.
Carapaz Delivers the Knockout Punch
The opening kilometres of Orcières-Merlette were cagey as everyone waited for someone else to blink.
Jorgenson probed.
Paret-Peintre countered.
Then Carapaz launched.
Paret-Peintre immediately followed, with Schmid and Jorgenson clawing their way back. But the Ecuadorian wasn’t finished.
Almost immediately after the regrouping, Carapaz attacked again.
This time nobody could respond.
The former Giro d’Italia winner quickly opened a gap that only grew larger with every switchback. Schmid and Jorgenson settled into a battle for the remaining podium places while Carapaz powered alone toward an emotional and richly deserved victory after repeatedly coming close throughout this Tour.
Behind him, Schmid outsprinted Jorgenson for second, while Paret-Peintre crossed fourth—just missing the podium finish he needed to take over the polka-dot jersey from Pogačar.
Mauro Shmidt scores his second 2nd place in two days
GC Riders Hold Fire
Behind the break, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe kept the pressure high, reducing the favourites’ group considerably, but no one among the overall contenders was willing—or perhaps able—to launch a decisive attack.
Pogačar, Vingegaard, Evenepoel and the rest of the GC elite crossed the line together, leaving the general classification unchanged ahead of what promises to be an even more explosive pair of mountain stages to come.
Carapaz, meanwhile, finally turned weeks of aggressive racing into the Tour stage victory that his persistence deserved.
Tour de France 2026 Stage 18 Results
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