Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) soloed to his second career Tour de France stage win as the race entered the Alps on stage 18 with a summit finish at Orcières-Merlette.
The Ecuadorian, who two years ago won at Superdévoluy and took the mountain classification, proved the strongest man from a group of six breakaway survivors on the final climb of the 185.2km stage.
He jumped clear 3.5km from the top, leaving behind mountain classification competitor Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-QuickStep), Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), and Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) to race alone to the finish line.
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The four, along with the already dropped Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) and Raúl García Pierna (Movistar), had been among a 40-rider breakaway move which went clear with 120km to run of the stage.
Paret-Peintre, wearing the polka dot jersey despite lying second in the classification behind race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), had collected the majority of the mountain points along the way, but Carapaz was the best climber on the day. He proved that on the closing 7.1km, 6.7% climb, with one move at 4km to go dislodging Johannessen and García Pierna before his second, which led to the big win.
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He’d cross the line 45 seconds up on stage 13 winner Schmid, while Jorgenson completed the podium close behind and Paret-Peintre finished fourth over a minute down.
Mauro Schmid of Jayco AlUla crosses the finish line in second ahead of Matteo Jorgenson of Visma-Lease a Bike, who takes third (Image credit: Getty Images)
With two tough mountain stages finishing at L’Alpe d’Huez lying in wait on Friday and Saturday, the only change in GC action was Carapaz moving to 10th. On the climb to the finish, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe led home a select group of contenders, 4:35 down on Carapaz.
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“It’s been a very special moment to win here on the Tour. It’s something that you have to put everything into. I want to dedicate it to my family,” Carapaz said after the stage.
“It’s incredible to win stage 18. It’s a really tough day. I managed to jump across when there was a gap. It was a really tough time, but I waited for the right moment and in the end, it happened to be at the right time.
“We knew what we were coming for, we knew what we had to do, and today ended up being that special day. We ultimately have managed to realise what we wanted for the last few weeks. We are really happy.”
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Carapaz celebrates after the stage 18 victory atop Orcières-Merlette (Image credit: Getty Images)
All the big names finished together, including the UAE pairing, yellow jersey Pogačar and white jersey Isaac del Toro. The team will head into stage 19 without key rider Brandon McNulty, though, after the US rider was forced to abandon the Tour ill, having raced much of the stage alone ahead of the broom wagon.
Pogačar continues in the race lead, 4:32 up on Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), while Del Toro remains in third at 6:51. The Slovenian also hangs on to the polka dot jersey by one point, his 70 points still clear of Paret-Peintre’s new total of 69, while Carapaz is third at 63.
Green jersey holder Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), meanwhile, has extended his points lead after racing in the breakaway and surviving over multiple climbs to grab 25 points at the intermediate sprint. He now leads Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) with a total of 477 points to 445.
Entry to the Alps
The peloton covered 185.2 km between Voiron and Orcières-Merlette in the French Alps on stage 18 (Image credit: Getty Images)
The 18th stage of the Tour de France saw the race head to the Alps and a finish at Orcières-Merlette, with 185.2km of challenging hilly roads on the way to the first-category climb (7.1km at 6.7%).
3,900 metres of ascent filled the route from Voiron, including the early first-category Côte d’Engins (11.4km at 5.4%), the second-category Côte de Monteynard (9.7km at 5%) in the middle of the stage, and a pair of third-category hills on the run to the final climb.
As expected, with the top GC riders set to save their legs for the coming Alpe d’Huez stages, there was a massive battle for the breakaway right from the start of the day.
A host of riders, including breakaway staple Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché) were part of the attacks and counter-moves early in the day. Meanwhile, UAE Team Emirates-XRG lieutenant Brandon McNulty was one surprising name to drop from the peloton after just 25km.
Mountain classification competitors Carapaz and Paret-Peintre were among those battling to make the breakaway, attacking repeatedly as the Frenchman led the Ecuadorian over the summit of the Côte d’Engins to grab 10 mountain points.
Other notable names striving to break away included Jorgenson, Carapaz’s teammate Ben Healy, points classification leader Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), and former Tour winner Egan Bernal (Netcompany Ineos).
Race leader Tadej Pogačar tries to cool down in the peloton (Image credit: Getty Images)
In the end, it would take around 65km for a breakaway group to go clear as a group of around 40 riders got away before the Côte de Monteynard.
Paret-Peintre and Carapaz made the move along with Healy, Pedersen, Bernal, and Jorgenson, while selected others to get away included Tobias Halland Johannessen, Jayco-AlUla duo Mauro Schmid, Michael Matthews, Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United), Harold Tejada (XDS-Astana), Michał Kwiatkowski, Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos), Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), and Movistar duo Einer Rubio and Raúl García Pierna.
The move split apart on the Monteynard, however, with Paret-Peintre going on the attack once more for another five mountain points with Carapaz right behind. The pair were part of a 14-rider lead group down the other side, with Pedersen, Jorgenson, and Halland Johannessen also in there.
Valentin Paret-Peintre of SoudalQuickStep rides in the Polka Dot Mountain Jersey on the hunt for more KOM points (Image credit: Getty Images)
The group carried a three-minute gap to the peloton into the closing 100km, while the second part of the breakaway – those dropped by the attackers – lay 1:30 down.
The road to the next climb, the third-category Côte de Terrasses (3.4km at 6.6%), saw the break’s lead grow to six minutes as once again Paret-Peintre accelerated to grab another two points ahead of Carapaz.
Pedersen, meanwhile, was hanging in there at the front in anticipation of his finish line, the day’s intermediate sprint at Corps with 56km to go. With the Dane’s teammate Mathias Vacek having piloted the group to that point, Pedersen duly jumped out of the group to grab 25 points and build his green jersey lead to 32 points over Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech).
His race was run at that point, but the fight for the stage win was still on, with the leaders lying 1:20 up on the chasers and eight minutes clear of the peloton.
It wouldn’t take long for the attacking to start again, with Jorgenson leading the way with 47km to go. The American took Johannessen, García Pierna, and Jayco-AlUla pairing Mauro Schmid and Mauro Engelhardt with him as Paret-Peintre and Carapaz launched the chase behind.
The new lead group of five raced away to a margin of 20 seconds over those left behind, even if Engelhardt didn’t last long out front, though the two mountain classification competitors continued their chase.
Lead group of five with Valentin Paret-Peintre of Soudal-QuickStep in the Polka Dot Mountain Jersey at the front (Image credit: Getty Images)
Paret-Peintre and Carapaz made it six at the front again with 44km to go, with the new leaders looking set to fight for the stage win among themselves.
The group quickly built a lead over the remainder of the first part of the early break, and the gap hit the minute mark as they raced into the closing 34km of the day.
Only the third-category climb of the Côte de Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes (2.5km at 6.9%) lay between the leaders and the final climb, and it was there where García Pierna showed the first sign of weakness among the six. The Spaniard dropped just before the climb but made it back in before the summit, where Paret-Peintre grabbed another two mountain points.
Meanwhile, at the rear of the race, McNulty, who had been riding alone in front of the broom wagon for most of the day, ended his Tour de France. The American was unable to continue after falling ill and his departure now leaves Pogačar and UAE down a key rider for the upcoming Alpine challenges.
His teammates, along with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe contolled the peloton on the run-in to the final climb, five minutes behind the leaders.
Decisive climb
The breakaway begin ascent of Orcières-Merlette (Image credit: Getty Images)
They hit the ascent to Orcières-Merlette as a sextet with three minutes in hand on those dropped from the break, despite a few digs from Jorgenson on the run-in. The group continued together up the early kilometres of the climb, seemingly playing cat-and-mouse as Carapaz and Paret-Peintre marked each other.
The first big move came 4km from the finish, where Paret-Peintre put in a testing acceleration before Carapaz hit the front with a major attack. The pair stuck together once more, while Schmid and Jorgenson made it across. García Pierna and Johannessen weren’t so lucky, however.
Carapaz struck again from the new group of four with 3.5km to go, only this time there was no response. Paret-Peintre had nothing left to give, the Frenchman sticking with Schmid and Jorgenson as the Ecuadorian raced away.
His acceleration put him 20 seconds clear by the 3km mark, as Paret-Peintre struggled to hold on to Schmid and Jorgenson, dropping further back. There would be no regrouping over the final kilometres of the race, with Carapaz racing well clear of his competitors and eventually crossing the line to celebrate the 25th win of his career.
Results
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Stage top 10
Place
Rider (Country) Team
Result
1
Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost
04:26:21
2
Mauro Schmid (Swi) Jayco-AlUla
00:00:45
3
Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike
Row 2 – Cell 2
4
Valentin Paret Peintre (Fra) Soudal-QuickStep
00:01:14
5
Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
00:01:57
6
Raul Garcia Pierna (Spa) Movistar Team
00:02:12
7
Pablo Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team
00:04:30
8
Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious
00:04:35
9
Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
Row 8 – Cell 2
10
Tom Pidcock (GBr) Pinarello-Q36.5
Row 9 – Cell 2
Swipe to scroll horizontally
GC top 10
Place
Rider (Country) Team
Result
1
Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG
64:35:13
2
Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
00:04:32
3
Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG
00:06:51
4
Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM
00:07:11
5
Juan Ayuso (Spa) Lidl-Trek
00:09:22
6
Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek
00:10:14
7
Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious
00:12:50
8
Tom Pidcock (GBr) Pinarello-Q36.5
00:12:58
9
Jordan Jegat (Fra) Totalenergies
00:14:04
10
Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost
00:21:00
