Voiron to Orcieres Merlette – Photos: A.S.O.
Forever associated with Luis Ocaña’s legendary assault, Orcières-Merlette crowned another spectacular by Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), now the winner of stage 18 of the Tour de France 2026.
Already on the move in most of the previous mountain stages, the Ecuadorian climber made the most of the entry into the Alps to claim victory. First he took part in the massive battle for the breakaway. Then, he fought off Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) for the KOM points atop the day’s climbs.
In the end, he distanced his rivals with a couple of strong attacks on the last ascent of the day, eventually covering the final three kilometers alone. Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) finishesd second, just as he did the day before on much easier terrain. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) rounded out the stage’s top 3.
The GC contenders stayed together but Carapaz enters the overall top 10 thanks to the time he gained with his long-range attack.
The Details
On the eighteenth day of racing, you might think the TDF is over. With Tadej Pogacar and his 7 minutes plus advantage over anyone, not to mention to smug look and the instant legs, there may not be much to think of in terms of mystery. But there are still some major mountain ranges to go and that started today with the Orcières-Merlette climb. The category 1 ascent is less daunting than the outside category (hors categorie) monsters before the riders with a double finale at Alpe d’Huez on Friday and Saturday.
Stage 18 featured 3,900 meters of elevation gain (400 meters more than Friday’s stage). And the opportunities to do battle are dwindling.
14 riders made the break
Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) was the first attacker of the day. But it took a massive fight to get away from the peloton.
EF Education-EasyPost were very active, but Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) took 10 KOM points at Côte d’Engins (km 36.7), and they missed the 7-man group who opened a gap at km 41: Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos), Felix Engelhardt (Jayco AlUla), Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), Pablo Castrillo (Movistar), Nicolas Breuillard (Total Energies).
Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United) joined the leaders after taking a flyer on the descent. Attacks were flying. Around thirty chasers set off from the peloton, and six of them closed the gap inside the final kilometer up Côte de Monteynard: Valentin Paret-Peintre, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), Egan Bernal (Netcompany Ineos), Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla), and Raul Garcia Pierna (Movistar).
Jorgenson attacked, McNulty is out
Valentin Paret-Peintre took maximum KOM points at Côte de Monteynard (cat 2, summit at km 92.2), as well as on Côte des Terrasses (cat 3, km 112.8). Then Pedersen took full points at the intermediate sprint in Corps (km 129). His margin on Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) for the green jersey is back up to 29 points. He wasn’t going to let his competitor get away with the Green Jersey today, that was for sure.
The break exploded as they entered the final 50 kilometers. Jorgenson took a flyer off the front, and. Johannessen followed. Garcia Pierna and Schmid rapidly joined them. Then Carapaz bridged the gap with Paret-Peintre on his wheel.
As the gap to the peloton increased up to 8’10’’, several teams start setting the pace to defend their leaders’ positions in GC: Tom Pidcock’s Pinarello Q36.5, Jordan Jegat’s Total Energies, and Yannis Voisard’s Tudor. Meanwhile, Tadej Pogacar lost a teammate: Brandon McNulty abandoned with what many speculated was illness.
Carapaz attacked, Pogacar followed
Jorgenson accelerated again a couple of times, but his breakaway rivals covered his moves. The six leaders were together at the bottom of the final climb to Orcières-Merlette (cat 1, 7.1 km at 6.7 %).
Jorgenson once again attacked just inside the final 5 kilometers. But the decisive attack was launched by Carapaz. The Ecuadorian climber ratcheted up his pace 4 kilometers from the summit, and no one could follow. Carapaz covered the final three kilometers solo and took the finish 45 seconds ahead of Mauro Schmid and Matteo Jorgenson.
This is his second Tour stage win, a couple of years after the maiden one in Superdévoluy (where Cyclists International interviewed him after the stage). Fourth at the summit, Valentin Paret-Peintre now has 69 KOM points, one less than Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates XRG), who followed the pace set by Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe on the final ascent.
