Alpe d'Huez, King of the Mountains jersey, Yellow Jersey records: The most exciting statistics of the day

3: Carapaz’s Triple Crown

Richard Carapaz has celebrated his third stage victory in the Tour de France at Alpe d'Huez. The Ecuadorian, who covered the final three kilometres of the climb at an average speed of 24.7 km/h, has now won for the second time in this year’s Tour, following his victory at Orcières-Merlette.

He secured his first Tour stage victory in Superdévoluy in 2024. With three victories to his name, the EF Education-EasyPost rider is now firmly established as one of the most successful Grand Tour climbers of his generation.

27: One man for three tours

With his victory at Alpe d'Huez, Carapaz has achieved an exclusive milestone. He is only the 27th rider in cycling history to have won at least three stages in all three Grand Tours.

The Ecuadorian now has a total of ten Grand Tour stage wins: three each at the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, and four at the Giro d'Italia.

Among the riders currently active, only Tadej Pogacar, Primož Roglič, Jonas Vingegaard, Mads Pedersen and Michael Matthews have also achieved this feat. The unrivalled record holder remains Eddy Merckx, with a total of 65 stage wins in the three major Grand Tours.

2: South America returns to Alpe d'Huez

Richard Carapaz is the first Ecuadorian and only the second South American ever to win a Tour stage at Alpe d'Huez.

The only South American rider to have won the Tour’s most famous climb to date was the Colombian Luis Herrera. He triumphed there in 1984 after a solo breakaway, ahead of Laurent Fignon and Miguel Arroyo.

After more than four decades, a driver from South America is once again standing at the top of the podium at the legendary 21 Kehren.

33: Experience wins the day

At 33 years, one month and 26 days, Richard Carapaz is now one of the oldest winners on the Alpe d'Huez.

The only riders older than him were Carlos Sastre, who won in 2008 at the age of 33 years and three months, and Joaquim Agostinho. The Portuguese rider even triumphed on the legendary Alpine climb in 1979 at the age of 37.

For Carapaz, this success is further proof that experience and racing intelligence can still be decisive factors in modern cycling.

70: The Yellow Jersey as a second skin

Tadej Pogacar had to concede the stage win this time, but defended his overall lead with ease. This marked the 70th time in his career that the Slovenian had worn the Yellow Jersey.

Only five-time Tour winners Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault had previously reached this milestone. At the same time, Pogacar took the lead in a Grand Tour for the 90th time overall, as his 70 days in the yellow jersey are supplemented by 20 days in the pink jersey of the Giro d’Italia.

Pogacar is now just three leader’s jerseys short of Miguel Indurain’s tally. Eddy Merckx’s record, however, of a total of 200 days as the overall leader of a Grand Tour, remains out of reach.

358: Pedersen wins the green jersey in the intermediate sprint

Mads Pedersen is on the verge of winning the Green Jersey. The Lidl-Trek rider extended his lead to 82 points with his victory in the intermediate sprint at Saint-Julien-Mont-Denis.

As there are only 75 points up for grabs on the final stage to Paris, Jasper Philipsen can no longer catch up with the Dane in the standings.

What is particularly noteworthy is the way in which Pedersen built up his lead: of his total of 527 points, he scored 358 in intermediate sprints. The former world champion won eight of these sprints and scored at least twelve points on every road stage.

6: Carapaz is in the running for the King of the Mountains jersey

Having secured top marks on the Croix de Fer, Télégraphe and Galibier, Richard Carapaz has picked up a further 65 points in the mountains classification and is on the verge of winning the polka-dot jersey for the second time.

The EF Education-EasyPost rider only secured the lead in the mountains classification during the final Alpine stages, thereby repeating the scenario from 2024 almost exactly.

Before Carapaz, only five riders had managed to claim the mountains jersey in the final days of the Tour. They include Giancarlo Bellini, Samuel Sánchez, Nairo Quintana, Chris Froome and Tadej Pogacar. Particularly noteworthy: Pogacar snatched the jersey from Carapaz in the final metres in 2020; four years later, the Ecuadorian got his own back.