Tour de France Stage 18: Carapaz Gives EF Education-Easypost A Huge Tour Stage Win

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 with three days remaining.

Paret-Peintre’s stint in the breakaway also helped his chances in one of the Tour’s big competitions, with the Frenchman now just one point off Pogačar in the mountains classification. He wore the jersey on Thursday as Pogačar was in the yellow of race leader, but will rue not taking a couple more points due to fading in the finale.

An action-packed day in the break

Stage 18 of the Tour de France was the first of three tough days in the Alps. It started in Voiron and crossed five climbs, including the category 1 summit finish of Orcières-Merlette.

An early category 1 climb inside the first hour of racing gave a perfect platform for a break, although the first big move went clear before that but was then reeled in on the slopes.

Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) then sparked off a new move. Paret-Peintre took the prime at the summit, but missed a move soon afterwards by Jorgenson, Pedersen, Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos), Felix Engelhardt (Jayco AlUla), Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) and Nicolas Breuillard (Total Energies). They were then joined by Romain Grégorie (Groupama – FDJ Suez) 25km later and, close to the summit of the Côte de Monteynard, by Paret-Peintre, Carapaz, Schmid, Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), Egan Bernal (Netcompany Ineos) and Raúl Garía Pierna (Movistar Team).

US champion Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) was one of several riders trying but unable to bridge.

Pedersen was hunting points for the green jersey classification and duly won the sprint at Corps.

A key move occurred with 46km to go when Jorgenson, Engelhardt, Schmid, Johannessen and García Pierna gapped the others, although Engelhardt slipped backwards very soon afterwards. Carapaz and Paret-Peintre then joined, with the Ecuadoran rider waiting to make his big attacks closer to the line.

He surged with 4km left, drawing Paret-Peintre clear and being rejoined by Schmid and Jorgenson. He then kicked again with 3.5km left, racing in to an emotional stage win.

Carapaz’s mother died earlier this year and he also had injury issues, making the victory all the more meaningful.

“I had to be determined to win. This is my style, to be aggressive. I give everything I have, this is the person I am. I had the legs and the head to make it today.”