Richard Carapaz produced a perfectly timed attack on the final ascent of Stage 18 to take his first stage victory of the 2026 Tour de France, as overall leader Tadej Pogacar cruised home with his main rivals to retain the yellow jersey.
The 33-year-old Ecuadorian, an Olympic road race gold medalist and former Giro d'Italia winner, broke clear on the climb to Orcières-Merlette and held off the chase to win by a comfortable margin. The stage, which started in Voiron and covered 178km through the Hautes-Alpes, featured several categorized climbs before the summit finish.
Pogacar, who is chasing his third consecutive Tour title and fifth overall, was content to let Carapaz go. The Slovenian superstar and his UAE Emirates XRG team were dealing with illness within the squad, and with Carapaz sitting over 40 minutes down in the general classification, the race leader calculated that the Ecuadorian posed no threat to his overall ambitions.
Behind Carapaz, the yellow jersey group rolled in together, with Pogacar finishing alongside his closest rival Remco Evenepoel. Pogacar retains a commanding advantage of 4 minutes and 32 seconds over Evenepoel, who continues to hold second place as the race enters its final stages.
The victory marks Carapaz's first stage win of this edition and adds to his impressive record in Grand Tours. The EF Education-EasyPost rider has now won stages in all three Grand Tours — the Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a España, and Tour de France — cementing his reputation as one of the sport's most versatile stage hunters.
With only three stages remaining before the final procession into Paris, Pogacar's grip on the yellow jersey looks unshakeable. Evenepoel remains the only rider within striking distance, but the 4'32" gap appears insurmountable unless the Slovenian suffers a catastrophic collapse.
Sources
- https://apnews.com/article/tour-stage-18-carapaz-pogacar-c5314995106cfdd66252ea136e6a4637
- https://www.bbc.com/sport/cycling/articles/c74gm7vj1xro
