Together with Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), Raul Garcia Pierna (Movistar Team) and Anders Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), the trio on the podium had ridden up the seven-kilometre-long final climb to Orcières-Merlette. A chasing group and the peloton were far behind and were out of contention for the stage win. It was then Carapaz who, with two attacks, whittled down the leading group and eventually found himself riding alone.

For the 33-year-old 2019 Giro d’Italia winner, this was his second stage victory at the Tour since 2024, when he also won as part of a breakaway in Superdevoluy. In total, it was his 25th victory as a professional. When Carapaz wins, it is predominantly in high-calibre races. Fifteen of his victories have come in WorldTour events, with a further three being national titles in Ecuador. And then there is his Olympic gold medal from 2021.

“Winning a stage at the Tour is something special,” said Carapaz, who dedicated the victory to his family. “It’s incredible to win this stage; I had to give it my all,” he continued. “It was really tough. I was worried because I only managed to join the group at the last minute. On the final climb, I just waited for the right moment.”

Carapaz breaks into the top 10

With this victory, Carapaz has also moved into the top 10 of the general classification; he is now exactly 21 minutes behind Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates – XRG), who, along with all the other favourites for the general classification, finished four and a half minutes behind the stage winner. Consequently, there has been little change in this ranking.

The situation is different in the battle for the green jersey. Mads Pedersen (Lidl – Trek) was also part of the breakaway group for a long time and won the intermediate sprint. The 25 points he added to his tally now effectively seal the deal in the battle for the points classification. Meanwhile, the race for the mountains jersey has tightened up. With 69 points, Paret-Peintre is now just one point behind Pogacar, whilst Carapaz is also only seven points off the top of the rankings.

2026 Tour de France – Results of Stage 18

Here’s how the 18th stage of the 2026 Tour de France unfolded

Although it initially looked as though a quintet led by Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) would establish itself as the breakaway of the day relatively quickly over the first 20 kilometres of flat terrain, the battle really picked up pace once the climb to the Côte d’Engins (Category 1) was reached. The 40-second lead was quickly wiped out. And when Carapaz and Paret-Peintre set off to claim the ten points in the battle for the mountains jersey, it all started all over again.

Paret-Peintre took ten points, Carapaz eight. But the highest point of the climb was still a long way off, which led to further attacks. Among those attacking was the tireless Pedersen, who started the day seven points clear of Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin – Premier Tech) in the points classification and was looking to extend that lead to 32 points at the intermediate sprint.

After 52 kilometres, the Pedersen group – which also included Jorgenson, Thymen Arensman (Netcompany INEOS), Johannessen, Pablo Castrillo (Movistar Team), Nicolas Breuillard (TotalEnergies) and, once again, Felix Engelhardt (Team Jayco AlUla), crossed the summit 40 seconds ahead of the peloton. On the descent, Romain Gregoire (Groupama – FDJ United) managed to catch up.

Pedersen treats himself

Whilst the group of favourites led by Pogacar eased off the pace over the next few kilometres, two chasing groups formed, the first of which, led by Paret-Peintre, Carapaz, Egan Bernal (Netcompany INEOS) and Schmid caught up even before the next mountain classification at the Côte de Monteynard (2nd category). Paret-Peintre once again claimed the mountain points there. There were 92 kilometres remaining to the finish.

Fourteen riders formed the new leading group, which also reached the intermediate sprint together 56 kilometres from the finish. Pedersen secured the much-coveted points there, which no one was in any position to challenge him for. Whilst the peloton, trailing by more than eight minutes, had effectively given up any hope of a stage win, the remaining chasing group led by Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling), Ben Healy (EF Education - EasyPost) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Netcompany INEOS), could not really find common ground, meaning that what had at one point been a gap of just 30 seconds widened again to more than a minute.

With 45 kilometres to go, the leading group broke up. Engelhardt led out Schmid, who broke away from his former companions alongside Jorgenson, Johannessen, Garcia Pierna, Paret-Peintre and Carapaz. By the start of the final climb, seven kilometres from the finish, the sextet had built up a lead of almost four minutes over the first group of pursuers. The winner was therefore bound to come from this group.

Carapaz takes the win with an attacking move

With four kilometres to go, Carapaz launched the first attack. Paret-Peintre stayed with him, whilst Schmid and Jorgenson managed to close the gap again. Then the Ecuadorian attacked for a second time. And this attack paid off. Whilst Jorgenson and Schmid carried on together, Paret-Peintre paid the price for his sprinting efforts on the mountain climbs and was unable to keep up with the pair.

Whilst Carapaz rode solo to victory, Schmid secured second place behind him in a sprint finish with Jorgenson. Paret-Peintre ultimately finished fourth, which was particularly bitter for the Frenchman as a place higher up the order would have earned him the mountains jersey – which he was already wearing, albeit only as Pogacar’s stand-in.

Meanwhile, in the group of favourites, the stars were conserving their energy ahead of the upcoming Alpe d’Huez double, refrained from battling for seconds and crossed the finish line having agreed not to attack one another.