Tour de France 2026: Richard Carapaz wins stage 18 - BBC

What the report says

BBC Sport reported that Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz took victory on stage 18 of the 2026 Tour de France after a decisive breakaway in the Alps. The EF Education-Easypost rider finished the 185.2km mountainous route from Voiron to Orcières Merlette in 4 hours, 26 minutes and 21 seconds, beating Switzerland’s Mauro Schmid of Jayco-Alula by 45 seconds, with Visma-Lease a Bike’s Matteo Jorgenson given the same time as Schmid.

The stage, held on Thursday, was the first of three demanding Alpine days near the end of the three-week race. BBC said Carapaz repeatedly used sharp accelerations to unsettle rivals, including Soudal Quick-Step’s Valentin Paret-Peintre, before riding clear. The result moved Carapaz into 10th overall, though he remains 21 minutes behind race leader Tadej Pogacar.

Pogacar, riding for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, kept the yellow jersey with a lead of 4 minutes 32 seconds over Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. UAE team-mate Isaac del Toro remains third overall, 6 minutes 51 seconds back, and continues to hold the white young rider’s jersey. Pogacar also retained the mountains classification lead by a single point, while Denmark’s Mads Pedersen increased his advantage in the green jersey contest to 32 points.

BBC highlighted a possible concern for Pogacar’s team as illness affected key support riders. American domestique Brandon McNulty abandoned during the stage, while Britain’s Adam Yates has also been struggling after becoming ill earlier in the race. That could matter as the Tour heads into two more severe Alpine stages, both finishing on Alpe d’Huez, where team support is especially important on long climbs.