Richard Carapaz won Tour de France stage 18 on Thursday, giving EF Education-EasyPost a major breakthrough in the Alps.
The Ecuadorian made his move from the day’s decisive breakaway on the summit finish to Orcières-Merlette. He attacked twice inside the final four kilometres and finally rode clear of Matteo Jorgenson, Mauro Schmid and Valentin Paret-Peintre.
Carapaz reached the line 45 seconds ahead of Schmid and Jorgenson. Paret-Peintre, who had collected key mountain points earlier, finished 1:14 behind after fading late.
The victory gave Carapaz another Tour stage win after his 2024 success. He also won the mountains classification that year.
Richard Carapaz strikes after breakaway battle
Stage 18 opened the first of three demanding Alpine days at the 2026 Tour de France. The route started in Voiron and crossed five classified climbs.
The summit finish at Orcières-Merlette was a category 1 ascent. Another category 1 climb arrived inside the opening hour, encouraging repeated attacks.
An early move formed before that climb but came back on the slopes. EF Education-EasyPost then helped restart the race through Ben Healy.
Paret-Peintre took maximum points over the summit, but he missed the next dangerous move. Jorgenson, Mads Pedersen, Thymen Arensman, Felix Engelhardt, Tobias Johannessen, Pablo Castrillo and Nicolas Breuillard pressed ahead.
Romain Grégorie joined around 25km later. Near the Côte de Monteynard, Paret-Peintre, Carapaz, Schmid, Mathias Vacek, Egan Bernal and Raúl García Pierna also made contact.
US champion Quinn Simmons was among the riders who tried to bridge but could not reach the leaders.
The break reshaped again with 46km remaining. Jorgenson, Engelhardt, Schmid, Johannessen and García Pierna opened a gap, though Engelhardt soon slipped back.
Carapaz and Paret-Peintre bridged across before the final climb. Carapaz then waited until the steep closing kilometres before making his effort.
His first acceleration with 4km left drew Paret-Peintre clear. Schmid and Jorgenson returned, but Carapaz attacked again with 3.5km remaining.
This time the gap held. Carapaz later described it as a “special day” and dedicated the win to his family.
The result carried extra emotion after a difficult season. Carapaz’s mother died earlier this year, and he had also dealt with injury problems.
Pogačar holds yellow as UAE support takes a hit
Tadej Pogačar finished safely in the reduced general classification group with his main rivals. He retained control of the yellow jersey.
However, UAE Emirates-XRG endured a difficult day behind the break. Brandon McNulty, who was ill, dropped early and later abandoned the race.
Adam Yates also struggled and finished almost 30 minutes down. With other UAE riders ailing, the team faces concern before Friday and Saturday’s climbing stages.
The green jersey race also moved on stage 18. Pedersen joined the breakaway and won the intermediate sprint at Corps.
That result extended Pedersen’s lead over Jasper Philipsen to 32 points with three days remaining. Philipsen had won Wednesday’s stage for Alpecin-Deceuninck.
Paret-Peintre also strengthened his position in the mountains competition. He moved to within one point of Pogačar after his aggressive day in the break.
The Frenchman wore the mountains jersey on Thursday because Pogačar was in yellow. Yet his late collapse cost him the chance to collect more points.
For EF Education-EasyPost, Carapaz’s stage win changed the tone of the team’s Tour. The American squad had been chasing a victory throughout the race.
Carapaz said he had to stay determined and aggressive. He added that he had “the legs and the head” to finish the job.