The venue of Orcières-Merlette, forever associated with Luis Ocaña’s legendary assault, crowned another spectacular attacker on Friday: Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), the winner of stage 18 of the Tour de France 2026. Already on the move in most of the previous mountain stages, the Ecuadorian climber made the most of the entry into the Alps to claim victory in his traditional fashion. First, he took part in the massive battle for the breakaway. Then, he battled with Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) for the KOM points atop the day’s climbs. Finally, he distanced his rivals with a couple of strong attacks on the last ascent of the day, eventually covering the final three kilometres solo. Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) finishesd second, just as he did the day before on much easier terrain. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) rounded out the stage’s top 3. GC contenders stayed together but Carapaz enters the overall top 10 thanks to the time gained with his long-range attack.
It’s time for the grand Alpine finale! On the eighteenth day of racing, one might think Paris is on the horizon, but a few giants still loom large on the peloton’s route, starting with the Orcières-Merlette climb. This category 1 ascent is less daunting than the hors-catégorie monsters awaiting the riders with a double finale at Alpe d’Huez on Friday and Saturday. But stage 18 features no less than 3,900 metres of elevation gain (400 metres more than Friday’s stage). And the opportunities to do battle are dwindling as the peloton heads towards Orcières-Merlette, where one cannot help but recall the great attack by Luis Ocaña, who won on these slopes in 1971.
14 riders make the break
Half a century after Ocaña’s assault, Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) is the first attacker of the day. But it takes a massive fight to get away from the peloton.
EF Education-EasyPost are particularly active, but it’s Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) who takes 10 KOM points at Côte d’Engins (km 36.7), and they miss the 7-man group who open a gap at km 41: Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos), Felix Engelhardt (Jayco AlUla), Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), Pablo Castrillo (Movistar), Nicolas Breuillard (Total Energies).
Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United) makes the most of the following descent to join the leaders. Attacks keep flying. Around thirty chasers set off from the peloton, and six of them close the gap inside the final kilometre up Côte de Monteynard: Valentin Paret-Peintre, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), Egan Bernal (Netcompany Ineos), Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla), and Raul Garcia Pierna (Movistar).
Jorgenson attacks, McNulty abandons
Valentin Paret-Peintre takes maximum KOM points at Côte de Monteynard (cat 2, summit at km 92.2), as well as on Côte des Terrasses (cat 3, km 112.8). Then Pedersen takes full points at the intermediate sprint in Corps (km 129). His margin on Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) for the green jersey is back up to 29 points.
The break explodes as they enter the final 50 kilometres. Jorgenson makes a first selection. Johannessen is the quickest to react. Garcia Pierna and Schmid rapidly join them. Then Carapaz bridges the gap with Paret-Peintre on his wheel.
As the gap to the peloton increases up to 8’10’’, several teams start setting the pace to defend their leaders’ positions in GC: Tom Pidcock’s Pinarello Q36.5, Jordan Jegat’s Total Energies, and Yannis Voisard’s Tudor. Meanwhile, Tadej Pogacar loses a teammate: diminished, Brandon McNulty abandons.
Carapaz attacks, Pogacar follows
Jorgenson accelerates again a couple of times, but his breakaway rivals cover his moves. The six leaders are together at the bottom of the final climb to Orcières-Merlette (cat 1, 7.1 km at 6.7 %).
Jorgenson is once again the first to move, just inside the final 5 kilometres. But the decisive attack comes from Carapaz. The Ecuadorian climber sets off for the first time 4 kilometres from the summit. And again with 3 kilometres to go. Carapaz covers the final three kilometres solo and takes victory 45 seconds ahead of Mauro Schmid and Matteo Jorgenson.
This is his second Tour stage win, a couple of years after the maiden one in Superdévoluy. Fourth at the summit, Valentin Paret-Peintre is up to 69 KOM points, one less than Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates XRG), who followed the pace set by Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe on the final ascent.
