EF Education EasyPost rider Richard Carapaz strongest on the final climb to solo to victory, Matteo Jorgenson third.
Richard Carapaz won stage 18 of the 2026 Tour de France (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images) (Photo: Tim De Waele)
Updated July 23, 2026 10:05AM
Richard Carapaz turned EF Education-EasyPost’s Tour de France around on Thursday, winning stage 18 of the race. The Ecuadorian rider was part of the day’s break and was one of six to push ahead inside the final 46km of racing.
He unleashed two surges inside the final 4km, with the second of those fully snapping the elastic and carrying him clear of American rider Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step).
The latter had beaten Carapaz to the top of the day’s other climbs, racking up plenty of mountain points, but had nothing left for the finale and blew up.
Carapaz then raced in 45 seconds clear of Schmid and Jorgenson, with Paret Peintre trailing in 1:14 back.
All four riders were part of the day’s key breakaway, and pushed ahead of the rest inside 46km to go. Carapaz previous won a stage in the Tour in 2024 and won the King of the Mountains classification the same year.
His latest success is a big relief for the American EF Education-EasyPost team, which was hunting a stage win in the Tour.
“It was a special day, to come back and win again at the Tour really means a lot,” he said. “It was a beautiful stage and I dedicate it to my family.
“We tried to win many times to breakaway but it was impossible to arrive. I was paying attention to all the splits and I was ready when Quick-Step attacked. That was the key moment. I knew the final climb was hard and it was good. I waited for my moment and I could really enjoy.”
GC battle lull in advance of two huge climbing stages
Race leader Tadej Pogačar finished safely in the reduced GC group with his main rivals, conserving his group on the yellow jersey. However it was a tough day for his UAE Emirates-XRG team, with an ill Brandon McNulty being dropped early on. The American rider later abandoned the race.
Climbing support Adam Yates also suffered, finishing almost 30 minutes back. With others from the team ailing, this may well prompt concern with two crucial climbing stages to come Friday and Saturday.
Meanwhile the green jersey competition saw a boost for classification leader Mads Pedersen, who was part of the day’s break and who won the intermediate sprint. This stretches his advantage over Wednesday’s stage winner Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to 32 points.
More to follow soon…
