After 185 kilometers of racing marked by five categorized climbs, Richard Carapaz won the eighteenth stage of the Tour de France that started from Voiron and finished at Orcières Merlette. The EF Education EasyPost athlete, who was also named super combative of the day, animated the race from the early kilometers, entering the breakaway, then selecting the group of six that flew away and then making the difference on the final climb with a series of attacks that broke his opponents and propelled him to his second personal victory on the roads of the Tour de France, after the one he achieved in 2024 at SuperDevoluy.

The Ecuadorian finished ahead of Mauro Schmid of Jayco AlUla by 45 seconds, in his second consecutive second place, and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma Lease a Bike), with Valentin Paret Peintre in fourth place at 1'14". Nothing to report, however, in the group of big names who let the race play out: only Pinarello Q36.5 and Bora Hansgrohe increased the pace in the final but there were no attacks on yellow jersey wearer Pogacar, who also had to deal today with a difficult day for his teammates, particularly Yates and McNulty.

THE RACE. Around the seventh kilometer of racing, five men broke away: New Zealander Aaron Gate (XDS Astana Team), Kazakh Nicolas Vinokurov (XDS Astana Team), Norwegian Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), British Lewis Askey (NSN Cycling Team) and Frenchman Mathis Le Berre (TotalEnergies).

At the foot of the Côte d'Engins Aaron Gate (XDS Astana Team) and Lewis Askey (NSN Cycling Team) lost contact with the breakaway and shortly after the other attackers were also caught.

On the climb the stage heated up with a series of attacks and at the summit the order was Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), Richard Carapaz (EF Education - EasyPost) and Ben Healy (EF Education - EasyPost).

At the 41st kilometer of the race, Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), Mads Pedersen (Lidl - Trek), Thymen Arensman (Netcompany INEOS), Felix Engelhardt (Team Jayco AlUla), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), Pablo Castrillo (Movistar Team) and Nicolas Breuillard (TotalEnergies) gained an advantage, later joined by French champion Romain Grégoire (Groupama - FDJ United).

Several groups launched in pursuit of the leaders and when approximately ninety kilometers remained to the finish, a group of fourteen riders formed at the front : Jorgenson (Visma Lease a Bike), Pedersen (Lidl Trek), Vacek (Lidl Trek), Carapaz (EF Education - EasyPost), Bernal (Netcompany INEOS), Arensman (Netcompany INEOS), Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), Engelhardt (Team Jayco AlUla), Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla), Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), Castrillo (Movistar Team), García Pierna (Movistar Team), Grégoire (Groupama - FDJ United) and Breuillard (TotalEnergies).

Reaching the top of the second categorized climb of the day, the Côte de Monteynard, once again Paret-Peintre passed Carapaz while Mauro Schmid crossed in third. The French climber's jersey wearer then also took the mountain points at the top of Côte des Terrasses and at Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes.

Pedersen, on the other hand, took the intermediate sprint, collecting important points in the classification he already leads before dropping out of the breakaway and being caught by the yellow jersey group.

When approximately 45 kilometers remained to the finish, Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), Engelhardt (Team Jayco AlUla) and Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) gained an advantage, later joined by García Pierna (Movistar Team) and Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla).

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