2026 Tour de France S18 Live: Valoire to Aussois-Mélet — Carapaz Solos on the Slopes of Okania

1. Stage Basics: The First of Three Alpine Stages

On July 23, 2026, Stage 18 of the Tour de France departs from Voiron in the Isère department, heading south across the edge of the Vercors massif, the Matheysine plateau, and the Champsaur valley, before finishing at the ski resort of Orcières-Merlette in the Hautes-Alpes department. The stage covers 185.2 km with 3,854 to 3,944 meters of cumulative climbing. The start time is 12:50 PM local time, with an average temperature of around 26°C.

This is the first day of this year’s Tour de France Alpine trilogy — the following Stages 19 and 20 both finish atop Alpe d’Huez, making them the two decisive battles that will shape the final general classification. As a result, Stage 18 was universally branded a “breakaway day” before the race even began: the GC contenders would save their legs for the next two days, leaving the climbers without GC ambitions to fight for this final clear opportunity.

As it turned out, that prediction was entirely accurate — and the man who stole the show was none other than the most uncompromising rider of this year’s Tour.

Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) attacked twice on the final 7.1 km climb, dropping a high-quality six-man lead group and crossing the line solo in 4 hours 26 minutes 21 seconds to claim his 9th career Grand Tour stage victory. Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla) and Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) finished together 45 seconds later, taking second and third. The GC group arrived 4 minutes 35 seconds behind, with the top eight on the general classification completely unchanged.

The winner’s average speed was 41.72 km/h, and the difficulty index (ProfileScore) was a massive 233 — more than triple the previous day’s Stage 17 (70), and among the highest of this year’s Tour. The final kilometer averaged 6.3%, with the time cut set at 17%, or 5 hours 11 minutes 38 seconds.

2. A Geographic Traverse: Four Distinct Landscapes from the Isère Valley to the Champsaur

The route design of Stage 18 is essentially a geographic traverse of the French southeastern Alpine foothills. Over 185.2 km, it passes through at least four geographic units with completely distinct characters.

Segment 1 (0 – 36 km): The Isère Valley and the Northern Edge of the Vercors

Riders depart from Voiron, enter the Isère River valley via Tullins-Fures, and follow the D1532 southeast through Saint-Quentin-sur-Isère, Veurey-Voroize, and Noyarey. At Sassenage, on the northwestern outskirts of Grenoble, they turn south and begin the climb up the Côte d’Engins.

This is the only truly flat section of the entire stage and the main battleground for the breakaway — roughly 23 km of flat roads allow attacks and counter-attacks to unfold without hindrance.

Segment 2 (36 – 63 km): The Vercors Plateau

After cresting the Côte d’Engins, the route enters the Vercors Regional Natural Park. This is a plateau surrounded by limestone cliffs, sitting at 800 to 1,100 meters above sea level, famous for the “Battle of the Vercors” fought by the French Resistance during World War II. The route passes through Engins, Lans-en-Vercors, and Saint-Nizier-du-Moucherotte, then descends from the “La Tour Sans Venin” along a steep cliffside road back down to Seyssinet-Pariset and Seyssins on the southern outskirts of Grenoble.

This descent is the section requiring the most nerve on the entire stage — the Vercors descents are narrow, twisty, and feature significant elevation drops.

Segment 3 (63 – 130 km): The Matheysine Plateau and Lac de Monteynard

From Claix, Varces, and Vif heading south, the route passes through Saint-Georges-de-Commiers and enters the famous Lac de Monteynard area. This artificial lake is known for its two long suspension footbridges and is a major hub for paragliding and sailing in France. The route climbs the Côte de Monteynard here, then passes through La Motte-d’Aveillans and La Mure — the central town of the Matheysine plateau, renowned for the historic “Train de La Mure” tourist railway.

From there, the route crosses the Côte des Terrasses via Susville and Saint-Laurent-en-Beaumont, then descends all the way to Corps, where the Drac and the Bonne rivers meet — this is the stage’s intermediate sprint point, located at kilometer 129.

Segment 4 (130 – 185.2 km): The Champsaur Valley and Orcières-Merlette

After Corps, the route enters the Champsaur valley in the Hautes-Alpes department. This is a 50 km “slow grind” — it looks flat on the road book, but in reality it’s a continuous slight uphill, with elevation gradually rising from around 600 meters to over 1,000. After passing through Chauffayer and La Fare-en-Champsaur, the route crosses the Côte de Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes at kilometer 166, then follows the upper Drac valley to Orcières, before the final climb to the Merlette ski station, finishing at 1,825 meters above sea level.

To sum up the character of this route in one sentence: hard at the start, long in the middle, and hard at the finish. This is the standard recipe the organizers use for a “breakaway day” — hard enough for the break to gain a gap, but not hard enough to force the GC contenders into action.

3. The Five Categorized Climbs: A Full Breakdown

Stage 18 features five categorized climbs, a number among the highest in this year’s Tour de France. This is why it has been dubbed “the opening act of the battle for the polka-dot jersey.”

Climb	Category	Length	Average Gradient	Summit Altitude	Race Kilometer	Summit Points
Côte d’Engins	Category 1	11.5 km	5.4%	854 m	36.7 km	10 pts
Côte de Monteynard	Category 2	9.7 km	5.0%	844 m	92.2 km	5 pts
Côte des Terrasses	Category 3	3.4 km	6.6%	836 m	112.8 km	2 pts
Côte de Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes	Category 3	2.5 km	6.9%	1,237 m	166.1 km	2 pts
Orcières-Merlette	Category 1	7.1 km	6.7%	1,825 m	185.2 km	10 pts

Côte d’Engins (Category 1, 11.5 km, 5.4%)

The categorization of this climb deserves an explanation. An average gradient of 5.4% is relatively gentle by “Category 1” standards—typically, a Category 1 climb averages over 7%. It is rated Category 1 because of its length: 11.5 kilometers translates to roughly 25 to 30 minutes of effort for a professional rider, a duration sufficient to create a genuine selection.

Technically speaking, this type of “long and shallow” climb is one of the hardest to pace. Because the gradient isn’t steep, riders can maintain a relatively high speed (around 20 to 24 km/h), which means aerodynamic drag still plays a significant role—so the peloton effect remains strong, and drafting saves considerable power. This makes a “solo attack” extremely costly on this kind of climb; the attacker must pay a far higher price than they would on a steeper ascent.

Moreover, it comes at kilometer 36.7, just after the race has started. The opening 23 kilometers of flat roads followed by an 11.5-kilometer Category 1 climb—this is the perfect terrain for “building the breakaway,” because those who want to get in must burn themselves to the ground while they are still fresh.

Côte de Monteynard (Category 2, 9.7 km, 5.0%)

Its character is almost identical to Engins: long, shallow, and located in the middle of the stage. It sits at kilometer 92.2, right at the halfway point of the race. This is where the “second selection” happens within the breakaway group.

Côte des Terrasses (Category 3, 3.4 km, 6.6%)

A short, steep climb, located at kilometer 112.8. It falls within the three-to-ten-minute effort zone, making it suitable for shedding the heavier riders in the breakaway.

Côte de Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes (Category 3, 2.5 km, 6.9%)

Located at kilometer 166.1, which is 19 kilometers before the final climb. This is a “probing climb”—the last categorized ascent before a summit finish, typically a place where attackers test their rivals’ condition.

Orcières-Merlette (Category 1, 7.1 km, 6.7%, summit at 1,825 m)

The decisive point of the stage. The combination of 7.1 kilometers and 6.7% translates to roughly 18 to 21 minutes of climbing for a professional rider.

The distribution of the gradient is key to understanding this climb: the steepest section comes at the start, around 8.2%; after that, it settles into a steady 7% all the way to the top. This “steep-then-steady” profile is actually not very favorable for attackers—because there is no brutally steep section to leverage for a gap, every attack must be executed purely through a difference in power output.

Pre-race analysis had already pointed this out: this kind of gradient is not well-suited for attacks among the general classification contenders; instead, it is more favorable for a battle within the breakaway. The race proved this assessment completely correct.

4. Historical Memory: 1971, Ocaña Beat Merckx on This Mountain

Orcières-Merlette’s place in cycling history comes from a race in 1971.

That year, Spain’s Luis Ocaña launched a meticulously planned solo attack on the stage to Orcières-Merlette, utterly breaking the supposedly invincible Eddy Merckx. He not only took the stage win but also seized the yellow jersey.

The significance of that victory went far beyond a single stage. In 1971, Merckx was at the peak of his dominance, having swept up the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, the World Championships, and the Classics—the entire cycling world had almost accepted that “this man cannot be beaten.” Ocaña stubbornly refused to accept that premise—he didn’t just win; he won in a way that was unrestrained, almost violent.

(The eventual outcome of that year’s Tour is well known: Ocaña crashed in the Pyrenees a few days later, was forced to abandon, and Merckx took the overall title. But that day at Orcières-Merlette remains forever etched in history.)

Fifty-five years later, on July 23, 2026, another rider described as a “non-conformist” executed another meticulously planned attack on the same mountain. This historical parallel lends Carapaz’s victory an extra layer of weight.

5. Pre-Stage Situation: A Three-Way Battle for the Polka Dot Jersey

Entering Stage 18, the suspense in the general classification was already minimal—Pogačar led Evenepoel by 4’32" and Del Toro by 6’51". The real tension lay on two other fronts.

The polka dot jersey was the main event of the stage. The standings were as follows:

Rank	Rider	Team	Points
1	Tadej Pogačar	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	70
2	Valentin Paret-Peintre	Soudal Quick-Step	46
3	Richard Carapaz	EF Education-EasyPost	40
4	Remco Evenepoel	Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe	36
5	Paul Seixas	Decathlon CMA CGM	34

Pogačar led Paret-Peintre by 24 points and Carapaz by 30. With five categorized climbs on the stage offering a total of 29 points (10+5+2+2+10), one rider sweeping them all could theoretically close right up on Pogačar.

One peculiar situation needs explaining here: Pogačar leads the polka dot standings, but on the road, he wears the yellow jersey. Per Tour de France rules, when a rider leads multiple classifications simultaneously, he wears the higher-ranking leader’s jersey (yellow being the highest), and the polka dot jersey is worn by the next rider in that classification. Since Stage 15, the rider actually wearing the polka dot jersey on the road has been second-placed Valentin Paret-Peintre.

This created a fascinating psychological dynamic: Paret-Peintre rode out each day in the polka dot jersey, perceived by the crowds, the broadcast, and even himself as the “King of the Mountains,” yet he was still 24 points behind. This “proxy wearing” status was the primary fuel driving his frantic point-hunting on Stage 18.

As for Carapaz, his situation was even more unique. The 33-year-old Ecuadorian had a disastrous opening to this Tour, sitting 12th overall and more than 25 minutes down—but that had become his advantage. He put it bluntly himself:

“I was never interested in the general classification; I actually deliberately lost time to give myself more chances to get into breakaways.”

When a rider is 25 minutes down on GC, the yellow jersey team has no incentive to chase him. It’s the most comfortable position for a “breakaway hunter.”

In the green jersey competition, Pedersen led Philipsen 452 points to 445—a gap of just 7. The stage’s intermediate sprint was at Col, at kilometer 129, preceded by three categorized climbs (including one first-category). Theoretically, this was very difficult for both sprinters, but Pedersen clearly had no intention of giving up.

There was also a structural backdrop: entering Stage 18, 13 teams had yet to win a single stage. With only four days left in a three-week Grand Tour, that anxiety translated directly into the intensity of attacking on the road.

6. Race Report (Part One): The 65-Kilometer Breakaway War

As everyone expected, the racing was on from the very first kilometer.

On the opening 23 kilometers of flat road, attacks and counter-attacks came wave after wave. A familiar face, Baptiste Vliegen (Lotto Intermarché)—a regular fixture at the front of breakaways who had appeared there almost daily this Tour—was again in the mix.

But the first thing to draw attention that day was a scene in the opposite direction: UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s domestique Brandon McNulty dropped off the main peloton just 25 kilometers into the stage.

McNulty was one of Pogačar’s most important protectors in the mountain stages and the most reliable climbing workhorse on UAE’s roster this Tour. He finished 22nd in the Stage 16 time trial, looking in fine form. His unexpected loss of contact on the flat so early left everyone baffled at first.

Then came the Côte d’Engins.

The two protagonists in the polka dot battle—Carapaz and Paret-Peintre—attacked each other repeatedly on this first-category climb, tearing the group to shreds. In the end, it was the Frenchman Paret-Peintre who crested first, taking 10 points, with Carapaz right behind for 8. The full points distribution on this climb was:

Rank	Rider	Team	Points
1	Valentin Paret-Peintre	Soudal Quick-Step	10
2	Richard Carapaz	EF Education-EasyPost	8
3	Ben Healy	EF Education-EasyPost	6
4	Mauro Schmid	Team Jayco AlUla	4
5	Mads Pedersen	Lidl-Trek	2
6	Sean Quinn	EF Education-EasyPost	1

Notably, EF Education-EasyPost occupied three spots on this list (Carapaz, Healy, Quinn)—a clear sign that the American team was going all-in on this stage.

Beyond the two polka dot contenders, other riders actively seeking the break included Jorgenson, Ben Healy, green jersey Pedersen, and 2019 Tour champion Egan Bernal (Netcompany INEOS).

The breakaway battle lasted roughly 65 kilometers—in other words, nearly an hour and a half of full-gas attacking from the flag drop until the break finally formed. This isn’t uncommon in modern Grand Tours, but every time it happens, it reminds viewers of one thing: on so-called “breakaway days,” the early intensity is often higher than on days when the GC is decided.

7. Race Report (2): A 40-Rider Breakaway, and Paret-Peintre’s Points Sweep

Eventually, before the Côte de Monteynard, a breakaway of around 40 riders took shape.

The quality of this group was astonishing, with the roster including:

• Polka-dot jersey contenders: Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost)
• Green jersey: Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) with teammates Mathias Vacek and Quinn Simmons
• Former Tour de France champion: Egan Bernal (Netcompany INEOS)
• American all-rounder: Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)
• EF domestiques: Ben Healy, Alex Baudin
• Jayco duo: Mauro Schmid, Michael Matthews, and Felix Engelhardt
• Nordic climber: Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility)
• Movistar duo: Einer Rubio, Raúl García Pierna
• Others: Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United), Harold Tejada (XDS Astana), Michał Kwiatkowski and Thymen Arensman (Netcompany INEOS)

Forty riders, covering nearly every team. This meant no team in the peloton had any incentive to chase—the ideal state for a breakaway day.

At the Côte de Monteynard (km 92.2), Paret-Peintre struck again. He accelerated on this second-category climb, taking another 5 points, with Carapaz close behind for 3, Schmid 2, and Pedersen 1.

This attack also split the 40-rider breakaway into two: a 14-rider lead group (including Paret-Peintre, Carapaz, Pedersen, Jorgenson, and Johannessen) and a second group trailing by around 1 minute 30 seconds. At this point, the lead group’s advantage over the peloton was 3 minutes.

Entering the final 100 kilometers, the lead group’s advantage continued to grow. By the Côte des Terrasses (km 112.8), the gap had stretched to 6 minutes. Paret-Peintre took 2 points at the summit for the third time, with Carapaz taking 1.

By this point, Paret-Peintre had collected 17 points across three climbs, pushing his polka-dot jersey total from 46 to 63 points—just 7 points behind Pogačar’s 70. Carapaz, meanwhile, had moved from 40 to 52 points.

8. Race Report (3): Coeur’s 25 Points, and Pedersen’s Day Done

At kilometer 129, the intermediate sprint at Corps.

Pedersen’s teammate Mathias Vacek led him out in the final kilometers, bringing the lead group to the sprint line. Pedersen launched out of the group and took the 25 points without any doubt.

Full intermediate sprint points:

Place	Rider	Team	Points
1	Mads Pedersen	Lidl-Trek	25
2	Mauro Schmid	Team Jayco AlUla	20
3	Tobias Halland Johannessen	Uno-X Mobility	16
4	Richard Carapaz	EF Education-EasyPost	14
5	Matteo Jorgenson	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	12
6	Mathias Vacek	Lidl-Trek	10
7	Felix Engelhardt	Team Jayco AlUla	9
8	Valentin Paret-Peintre	Soudal Quick-Step	8
9	Raúl García Pierna	Movistar Team	7
10	Pablo Castrillo	Movistar Team	6

Philipsen was nowhere on the list—he had been dropped on the earlier first-category and second-category climbs. He scored zero points on the day.

Pedersen’s green jersey lead thus ballooned back out from 7 points to 32 points.

This was the turning point in the green jersey battle. The day before, he had lost 24 points at Vallon and said afterward, “That was a completely terrible day”; the next day, he climbed over a first-category and a second-category climb, made it into the breakaway, and took all the points back. In his boss’s words, it was a “monstrous mountain effort.”

For Pedersen himself, the intermediate sprint was his finish line. After taking his 25 points, his race was over—the remaining 56 kilometers of climbing and the mountaintop finish had nothing to do with him. His task was to save energy, finish within the time limit, and then prepare to go back into the mountains the next day.

The situation at this point: the lead group was 1 minute 20 seconds ahead of the second chase group, and 8 minutes ahead of the peloton. The battle for the stage win was just beginning.

9. Race Report (3): Jorgenson’s Split, and a Six-Rider Front Group Forms

With 47 kilometers to go, Matteo Jorgenson launched the day’s first true “stage-winning” attack.

The American took four riders with him: Johannessen, García Pierna, and Team Jayco AlUla’s Schmid and Engelhardt. Paret-Peintre and Carapaz immediately gave chase behind.

The new five-rider lead group quickly opened 20 seconds on the rest. Engelhardt didn’t last long before being dropped; Paret-Peintre and Carapaz kept up the pressure and successfully bridged with 44 kilometers remaining—a six-rider lead group was officially formed:

1. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost)
2. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step)
3. Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)
4. Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla)
5. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility)
6. Raúl García Pierna (Movistar Team)

This combination of six was intriguing—each rider came from a different team, none carried GC baggage, and each had the ability to win a Tour de France stage. And since no two were teammates, there would be no “two-man collusion” in the chasing and rotating process.

The six worked well together, quickly opening a gap on the remnants of the early breakaway. With 34 kilometers to go, the advantage reached one minute.

The Côte de Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes (km 166.1, 2.5 km at 6.9%) was the probing ground before the final climb. Here, the first of the six to show signs of fatigue was García Pierna—he dropped before the base of the climb but fought back before the summit. Paret-Peintre once again crested first, taking 2 points (Carapaz 1).

At this point, Paret-Peintre had maxed out with 19 points across four climbs today, pushing his polka-dot jersey total to 65 points, just 5 behind Pogačar.

And at the very back of the race, McNulty’s Tour de France was over. After being dropped early on, the American rode alone in front of the broom wagon for much of the day, ultimately unable to continue due to physical issues. UAE Team Emirates-XRG lost a key mountain domestique ahead of two major battles in the Alps.

10. Race Report (5): The Final 7.1 km, Two Attacks

The climb to Isola 2000 began near kilometer 178. When the six-man breakaway entered the final climb, they held roughly a five-minute advantage over the peloton—the stage winner was already guaranteed to come from this group.

Behind, Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe led a group of GC contenders up the final climb. It was a typical Week 3 setup: Red Bull controlled the pace to protect Evenepoel’s second place overall, while UAE was happy to follow—because Pogačar had two more important battles to fight the next day and the day after.

The six riders up front began testing each other.

Carapaz’s first attack came with 4.4 kilometers remaining to the summit.

It didn’t succeed—he was brought back. But the attack itself had value, because it gave Carapaz crucial information: who could respond, and who was struggling to respond. Judging by the result, Johannessen and García Pierna were clearly dropped from the core group after that surge.

Roughly one kilometer later, with about 3.4 to 3.5 kilometers remaining to the summit, Carapaz attacked again.

This time, nobody could follow.

He kept the pressure on over the remaining three-plus kilometers, shedding Parêt-Peintre, Jorgenson, and Schmid one by one, before crossing the finish line alone at 1,825 meters above sea level.

Carapaz himself explained the process after the stage:

“I couldn’t stop thinking about this stage throughout the entire Tour; I was sure it suited me, and this morning when I felt my legs were still there, I decided to go all in.”

“I knew I could be part of it, so when QuickStep brought three riders trying to bridge to an earlier move, I was ready to go.”

“Honestly, the final climb wasn’t that good for me, but my legs were still there, and that’s what mattered. From then on, it was just about waiting for the right distance.”

“Waiting for the right distance”—that phrase precisely captures the essence of an attack on a summit finish. On a 7.1 km climb at 6.7%, your remaining anaerobic reserve only supports roughly three to four minutes of supra-threshold effort. Attack too early, and you get caught in the final kilometer; attack too late, and you can’t open a big enough gap. 3.4 kilometers, roughly 9 to 10 minutes of riding, was the optimal solution Carapaz calculated for himself.

And he calculated correctly: he won the stage by 45 seconds.

11. Stage Results: Full Top 30

The following are the complete top 30 results from Stage 18 (Valloire → Isola 2000, 185.2 km):

Rank	Rider	Team	Time	Gap
1	Richard CARAPAZ	EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST	4:26:21	Winner
2	Mauro SCHMID	TEAM JAYCO ALULA	4:27:06	+45"
3	Matteo JORGENSON	TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE	4:27:06	+45"
4	Valentin PARET PEINTRE	SOUDAL QUICK-STEP	4:27:35	+1:14
5	Tobias JOHANNESSEN	UNO-X MOBILITY	4:28:18	+1:57
6	Raul GARCIA PIERNA	MOVISTAR TEAM	4:28:33	+2:12
7	Pablo CASTRILLO ZAPATER	MOVISTAR TEAM	4:30:51	+4:30
8	Lenny MARTINEZ	BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS	4:30:56	+4:35
9	Remco EVENEPOEL	RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE	4:30:56	+4:35
10	Tom PIDCOCK	PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM	4:30:56	+4:35
11	Jordan JEGAT	TOTALENERGIES	4:30:56	+4:35
12	Juan AYUSO PESQUERA	LIDL-TREK	4:30:56	+4:35
13	Tadej POGACAR	UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG	4:30:56	+4:35
14	Mattias SKJELMOSE	LIDL-TREK	4:30:56	+4:35
15	Nicolas PRODHOMME	DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM	4:30:56	+4:35
16	Paul SEIXAS	DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM	4:30:56	+4:35
17	Isaac DEL TORO ROMERO	UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG	4:30:56	+4:35
18	Matthew RICCITELLO	DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM	4:30:56	+4:35
19	Yannis VOISARD	TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM	4:30:56	+4:35
20	Jai HINDLEY	RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE	4:31:00	+4:39
21	Derek James GEE	LIDL-TREK	4:31:25	+5:04
22	Felix ENGELHARDT	TEAM JAYCO ALULA	4:31:37	+5:16
23	Carlos VERONA QUINTANILLA	LIDL-TREK	4:31:52	+5:31
24	Sergio HIGUITA GARCIA	XDS ASTANA TEAM	4:32:09	+5:48
25	Quinn SIMMONS	LIDL-TREK	4:32:12	+5:51
26	Ilan VAN WILDER	SOUDAL QUICK-STEP	4:32:24	+6:03
27	Maxim VAN GILS	RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE	4:33:07	+6:46
28	Guillaume MARTIN GUYONNET	GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED	4:34:10	+7:49
29	Damiano CARUSO	BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS	4:34:10	+7:49
30	Quentin PACHER	GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED	4:34:37	+8:16

12. Top-10 Analysis: A Report Card of “Breakaway Domination”

1st Place: Carapaz (4:26:21): The only rider to finish solo on this stage, and the most aggressive rider of the day. At 33 years old, he is the 2019 Giro d’Italia champion, the 2021 Tokyo Olympic road race gold medalist, and the 2024 Tour de France polka dot jersey winner. This is his 9th career Grand Tour stage victory and his first win since the 2025 Giro d’Italia.

2nd Place: Schmid (+45"): His second podium appearance of this Tour (winner of Stage 13, second on Stage 17, second on Stage 18). The Swiss rider has been involved in nearly every move during the third week of this Tour, making him one of the most underrated performers.

3rd Place: Jorgenson (+45"): The core of Team Visma | Lease a Bike following Vingegaard’s withdrawal. He was the catalyst for the six-rider group forming on this stage—his attack with 47 kilometers to go directly narrowed the race for the win down to six riders.

4th Place: Paré-Peintre (+1:14): The king of the mountains points on this stage, taking maximum points on all four categorized climbs for a total of 23 points. But the stage win ultimately eluded him—this is the classic dilemma for polka dot hunters: focusing on sweeping up points drains the energy needed to contest the stage victory.

5th Place: Johannessen (+1:57) and 6th Place: García Pierna (+2:12): Two members of the six-rider group who were dropped in the first wave of attacks on the final climb. Johannessen is the climbing anchor of the Norwegian Uno-X Mobility squad, while García Pierna is one of Movistar’s most promising young climbers in recent years.

7th Place: Castrillo (+4:30): The survivor of the early breakaway, holding on to seventh place single-handedly on the final climb, finishing 5 seconds ahead of the general classification group.

8th to 19th Place: All from the general classification group, finishing together at +4:35. This group was led by Red Bull on the final climb and included all the GC contenders: Evenepoel, Peacock, Ayuso, Pogačar, Skjelmose, Seixas, Del Toro, and others. Interestingly, Pogačar finished 13th in this group—he made no attempt whatsoever to gain time or positions, a pure “energy-saving mode” performance.

13. Four Jerseys Change Hands: Polka Dot Lead Down to One Point

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) — The Main Battleground of the Stage

Mountain points at the finish: Carapaz 10, Schmid 8, Jorgenson 6, Paret-Peintre 4, Johannessen 2, García Pierna 1.

Full-day totals:

• Paret-Peintre: 23 points (Engins 10 + Monteynard 5 + Terrasses 2 + Saint-Léger 2 + Finish 4)
• Carapaz: 23 points (Engins 8 + Monteynard 3 + Terrasses 1 + Saint-Léger 1 + Finish 10)

Both riders took 23 points on the day. The standings after the stage:

Rank	Rider	Team	Points	On the Day
1	Tadej Pogačar	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	70	—
2	Valentin Paret-Peintre	Soudal Quick-Step	69	+23
3	Richard Carapaz	EF Education-EasyPost	63	+23
4	Remco Evenepoel	Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe	36	—
5	Paul Seixas	Decathlon CMA CGM	34	—
6	Isaac del Toro	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	30	—
7	Lenny Martinez	Bahrain Victorious	22	—
8	Mauro Schmid	Team Jayco AlUla	22	+14

Pogačar’s lead has shrunk from 24 points to just 1.

By the end of the day, the polka dot jersey battle had gone from “Pogačar has it locked up” to one of the tightest contests of this Tour de France. And the next stages, 19 and 20, still hold plenty of climbing points—including the Category 1 Col de la Noie and the Hors Catégorie Alpe d’Huez on Stage 19.

When asked about the polka dot jersey after the stage, Carapaz was pragmatic:

“I didn’t really fight hard for climbing points on the early climbs—that QuickStep rider (referring to Paret-Peintre) was faster.”

“But the real mountain stages are still ahead, and I think Tadej (Pogačar) also has a lot of points. If I can get the polka dot jersey, that would be great, so from now on I’ll fight for it. But today was all about the stage win.”

Green Jersey (Points Classification): Pedersen extended his lead back to 32 points thanks to 25 points from the intermediate sprint.

Rank	Rider	Team	Points	On the Day
1	Mads Pedersen	Lidl-Trek	477	+25
2	Jasper Philipsen	Alpecin-Premier Tech	445	—
3	Biniam Girmay	NSN Cycling Team	361	—
4	Max Kanter	XDS Astana	271	—
5	Olav Kooij	Decathlon CMA CGM	230	—
6	Tadej Pogačar	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	165	+4
7	Søren Wærenskjold	Uno-X Mobility	159	—
8	Mauro Schmid	Team Jayco AlUla	131	+45
9	Remco Evenepoel	Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe	130	+9
10	Anthony Turgis	TotalEnergies	129	—

Schmid banked 45 points on the day (20 from the intermediate sprint + 25 from the finish), jumping from 16th to 8th—after taking 30 and 45 points on consecutive days, he’s been the biggest point collector in the latter half of this Tour.

Yellow Jersey (General Classification): Pogačar remains in first with a total time of 64h 35’ 13". The top nine in the GC are completely unchanged:

Rank	Rider	Team	Gap
1	Tadej Pogačar	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	64h 35’ 13" (total time)
2	Remco Evenepoel	Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe	+4’ 32"
3	Isaac del Toro	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	+6’ 51"
4	Paul Seixas	Decathlon CMA CGM	+7’ 11"
5	Juan Ayuso	Lidl-Trek	+9’ 22"
6	Mattias Skjelmose	Lidl-Trek	+10’ 14"
7	Lenny Martinez	Bahrain Victorious	+12’ 50"
8	Tom Pidcock	Pinarello-Q36.5	+12’ 58"
9	Jordan Jegat	TotalEnergies	+14’ 04"
10	Richard Carapaz	EF Education-EasyPost	+21’ 00"

The only change is Carapaz moving into the GC top ten—an unintended byproduct of his strategy of deliberately losing time to gain freedom in breakaways.

White Jersey (Best Young Rider): Del Toro holds on. The young rider classification for the day was won by Paret-Peintre, with García Pierna second and Castrillo third.

Most Combative Rider: Richard Carapaz.

Team Classification: Decathlon CMA CGM posted the fastest team time on the day (13h 32’ 48"), with Lidl-Trek 29 seconds back in second. In the overall team standings, Lidl-Trek still leads UAE Team Emirates-XRG by 22’ 05".

14. Team Tactics Review

EF Education-EasyPost: The outright winners of the day. They placed three riders (Carapaz, Healy, Quinn) into the top six of the KOM standings on the Côte d’Engins, effectively using the entire team to pave the way for Carapaz. Healy continuously wore down opponents in the mid-race breakaway, allowing Carapaz to conserve his energy for the final climb. This is a textbook case of a resource-limited American team betting all its chips on a single day—and cashing them all in.

Soudal Quick-Step: Pare-Panther took the summit on four climbs, banked 23 points, and closed the polka-dot jersey gap to just 1 point behind Pogačar—but the stage win eluded them. This is a classic trade-off question. Carapaz himself pinpointed the key after the race: “I didn’t go all-out for the KOM points on the earlier climbs.” In other words, Pare-Panther made near-maximal efforts on four climbs for the polka-dot jersey, while Carapaz deliberately held back. By the final 7.1 kilometers, the difference in their remaining energy became apparent.

From the team’s perspective, this trade-off was actually reasonable—there’s only one stage winner, while the polka-dot jersey is a goal that can be achieved through accumulation. The problem is that Pogačar’s 70 points came from winning summit finishes, while Pare-Panther had to scrape together points one by one. This competition of “quantity” versus “quality” ultimately played out on Stages 19 and 20.

Team Visma | Lease a Bike: Jorgenson’s third place is one of the best results for the Dutch powerhouse since losing Vingegaard. His attack with 47 kilometers remaining was the key move that narrowed the stage-win contest to six riders—but it may also have cost him his reserves on the final climb.

Team Jayco AlUla: Schmid second, Engelhardt 22nd. The Australian team has been extremely efficient in the latter part of this Tour—winning Stage 13, taking second on Stage 17, and second again on Stage 18. Schmid has collected 75 sprint points in two days, climbing steadily up the green jersey standings.

Lidl-Trek: Clear objectives, fully achieved—putting Pedersen in the breakaway, taking the full 25 points at the intermediate sprint, and stretching the green jersey lead back to 32 points. Meanwhile, they also hold Ayuso (fifth) and Skjelmose (sixth) in the GC, and sit firmly atop the team classification. This is a squad leading on three fronts simultaneously.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG: The worst day, despite the GC remaining unscathed. They lost McNulty—an indispensable mountain domestique for two brutal Alpine battles. And in the polka-dot jersey competition, Pogačar’s lead was compressed from 24 points to just 1, meaning he must now actively contest KOM points over the next two days rather than simply defending his GC lead.

Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe: They controlled the pace of the peloton on the final climb, ensuring Evenepoel conceded no time in second place overall. For a team that lost Lipowitz within three days, this was pragmatic and correct execution.

Movistar Team: García Pierna sixth, Castrillo seventh. The Spanish veteran squad has no GC ambitions at this Tour, but continues to maintain visibility through breakaways.

15. Rider Story: Carapaz’s 2026, and a Race He Waited All Tour For

Richard Carapaz’s career is, in itself, a documentary about defiance.

He comes from the Carchi province of Ecuador, a highland region at nearly 3,000 meters above sea level. He didn’t emerge from Europe’s youth development system; he fought his way up from South America’s amateur circuit. In 2019, he won the Giro d’Italia overall as a wildcard entrant, becoming the first Ecuadorian to win a Grand Tour. At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, he took gold in the road race. At the 2024 Tour de France, he won the polka-dot jersey and a stage (at Superdévoluy, not far from Hautacam).

2026 was a disrupted season for him. His original primary goal was the Giro—but a cyst surgery ruled him out entirely. After rehab, he reoriented his entire season toward “Tour de France stage hunting,” and second overall at the Tour de Suisse (behind only Pogačar) was a strong signal.

Once the Tour began, his GC hopes were gone quickly. But he didn’t care—in his own words, that was deliberate.

Looking back at his performances before this Tour, several signals had already foreshadowed Stage 18:

• Stage 3 (Les Angles): Third place, behind only Pogačar and Vingegaard.
• Stage 10 (Le Lioran, Bastille Day): He was the only rider willing to attack on the penultimate climb in an attempt to disrupt Pogačar’s plan—though he was ultimately caught and passed by Pogačar’s solo move.
• Stage 14 (Le Markstein): Eighth place.

In other words, the form was always there; he just hadn’t found the right day. And Stage 18 was that day.

His own explanation is crystal clear:

“I couldn’t stop thinking about this stage throughout the entire Tour; I was sure it suited me.”

“Winning here is tricky. Compared to my last win two years ago (referring to Superdévoluy, not far from Hautacam, also the last opportunity before the GC showdown in the third week), the terrain is similar—lots of flat roads in the middle, then some climbs at the end.”

“But the final breakaway group was high quality. Mauro (Schmid) had already won a stage, and I respect them. It was a great day; we worked well together in that group. But I had the legs to finish it off.”

Another quote captures the psychology of a breakaway hunter perfectly:

“There was no pressure today, but I knew the next two days would be much harder to succeed, so today was a very important stage for us—we had to try to take the win—and we did.”

The victory also carried him into the top ten overall (10th, 21 points back) and cut the polka-dot jersey gap to 7 points. And we all know the rest of the story: he took another breakaway win on Stage 20 at Alpe d’Huez, ultimately claiming the polka-dot jersey and the Tour’s Super Combativity award—EF Education-EasyPost’s third consecutive year winning that prize.

16. McNulty’s Abandonment: An Easily Overlooked Turning Point

The most easily forgotten news from Stage 18 was Brandon McNulty’s abandonment.

The 28-year-old American is one of UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s most important pace-setters on mountain stages. His role differs from Pogačar’s other teammates: Adam Yates handles mid-stage protection, Felix Großschartner controls the flats, while McNulty’s job is to push the pace to the limit on the early slopes of the final major climb, shelling all of the opponents’ domestiques. This role carries immense value in the modern Grand Tour.

He dropped off the back just 25 kilometers into the stage, then rode alone ahead of the broom wagon for most of the day before abandoning due to illness.

The impact was visible the very next day—heading to Alpe d’Huez on Stage 19, UAE was missing a crucial mountain worker. And Stage 20 was described as a “death march, perhaps the hardest Tour de France stage ever” (featuring the hors-catégorie Col de la Croix de Fer and another ascent of Alpe d’Huez).

Worth noting: McNulty had been hit by a car just before the start of the time trial two days earlier (fortunately uninjured), and then illness forced him out on Stage 18. For an unheralded domestique, it was a cruel ending.

17. Impact on the Remaining Stages: Two Alpe d’Huez

At the end of Stage 18, only three stages remained in the Tour de France:

• Stage 19 (7/24, Gap → Alpe d’Huez, 127.9 km): Two Category 2 climbs, the Category 1 Col du Noyer (7.2 km at 8.5%), and the Hors Categorie Alpe d’Huez (13.8 km at 8.1%, summit at 1,850 m). The intermediate sprint is at km 89.4.
• Stage 20 (7/25, Bourg-d’Oisans → Alpe d’Huez, 170.9 km): A second consecutive day up Alpe d’Huez, with the Hors Categorie Col de la Croix de Fer to cross along the way. The intermediate sprint is at km 66.5, after the Col de la Croix de Fer.
• Stage 21 (7/26, Paris Champs-Élysées): A final day featuring three laps of the Montmartre climb.

Based on the outcome of Stage 18, the script for the days ahead looks like this:

General Classification: Pogačar leads by 4 minutes 32 seconds. Barring an accident, the yellow jersey is decided. The real suspense lies in third place—Del Toro (+6:51) and Seixas (+7:11) are separated by just 20 seconds, and two Alpe d’Huez ascents are more than enough to blow that 20-second gap out to several minutes. (Later developments proved this: Pogačar personally worked for his teammate Del Toro on Stage 20 to ensure he held onto the podium spot.)

Polka Dot Jersey: This is the biggest suspense. Pogačar has 70 points, Paré-Peintre 69, Carapaz 63. Only 7 points separate the three. And the total climbing points on offer across Stages 19 and 20 far exceeds 7 points—this competition will go down to the wire.

Green Jersey: Pedersen has 477 points, Philipsen 445. The gap is 32 points, and the two remaining mountain stages are extremely unfavorable for both sprinters. The showdown will come on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

Stage Hunters: Carapaz has proven that “a breakaway can win,” and this will encourage other teams still without a win to throw everything into the breakaway on Stages 19 and 20—in fact, Stage 19 turned into an epic duel between the breakaway and the yellow jersey.

18. Data Corner: The Intensity Profile of the Day

Let’s compile the key numbers from Stage 18:

Item	Value
Distance	185.2 km
Total Elevation Gain	3,854 – 3,944 m
Winner’s Time	4 hours 26 minutes 21 seconds
Winner’s Average Speed	41.72 km/h
Difficulty Index (ProfileScore)	233
Final Kilometer Gradient	6.3%
Summit Altitude	1,825 m
Time Limit	17%, i.e., 5 hours 11 minutes 38 seconds
Average Temperature	Approx. 26°C
Start Time	12:50
Distance to Form the Breakaway	Approx. 65 km
Maximum Breakaway Advantage	Approx. 8 minutes
Winner’s Solo Distance	3.4 km

A few numbers deserve further explanation.

Difficulty Index 233: This is an indicator that comprehensively weighs the distribution of climbs, gradients, and the position of climbs within the stage. For reference, Stage 17 scored 70, and the Stage 16 time trial only 40. A score of 233 shows that Stage 18 ranks among the hardest of this year’s Tour.

Average Speed of 41.72 km/h: Maintaining this average on a route with nearly 4,000 meters of climbing means riders must have been riding extremely fast on the flat sections. The speed the breakaway sustained through the middle section (the 50 km of false flat after the Col) is the main reason they were able to pull eight minutes on the peloton.

65 km to Form the Breakaway: This is the most representative statistic of the day. 65 kilometers of full-gas attacking means the riders effectively raced the first half of a one-day classic before the actual race even began. This is also why Carapaz said, “Today there was no pressure, but I know the next two days will be much harder to succeed”—because the cost of getting into the breakaway was itself extremely high.

Solo Attack of 3.4 km: On a 7.1 km climb, Carapaz chose to launch his final attack with 3.4 km remaining. That’s roughly 48% of the climb—in other words, the “back half.” For amateur riders, this is a highly valuable reference point—on a climb lasting fifteen to twenty minutes, the most effective attack point usually falls in the final 40% to 50% of the ascent.

19. City File: Voiron and Orcières-Merlette

Voiron—the start of this stage and the finish of the previous day’s Stage 17. This quiet city of just over 20,000 people, nestled in the Isère Valley, is not only an important hub for French cycling but a regular fixture on the Tour de France route. It first witnessed the battle for the yellow jersey in 1977, and is one of the very few towns in France that has hosted stages of both the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. In recent years, it also saw French team Groupama-FDJ’s leader David Gaudu stage a comeback victory here.

For cyclists, Voiron’s greatest appeal lies in its geography: ten kilometers east lies the Chartreuse Massif, twenty kilometers south is the northern edge of the Vercors Plateau, and to the north are Lake Paladru and the Bièvre Plain. It’s a natural cycling paradise surrounded by mountains, letting riders chase their dreams across the rolling terrain of the Alpine foothills.

Orcières-Merlette—the finish of this stage, is a high-altitude ski resort built in the 1960s, located at the deepest end of the Champsaur Valley in the Hautes-Alpes department, at an altitude of 1,825 meters (with the ski area’s highest point exceeding 2,700 meters). Like Alpe d’Huez and La Plagne—French ski resorts developed in the same era—its very existence was designed “so that cars could drive up”—which is why this 7.1 km road is wide enough, has a consistent gradient, and almost no brutally steep sections.

From a riding experience perspective, this is an “honest” climb: the opening section is steepest at around 8.2%, then settles steadily around 7%, with no sneaky gradient changes and no flat sections for respite. You can set your power from the first kilometer and execute it all the way to the top.

For Taiwanese riders looking to make a pilgrimage, Orcières-Merlette is actually easier to arrange than Alpe d’Huez: less traffic, fewer tourists, more accommodation options in the village of Orcières at the bottom, and it’s only about fifty kilometers from Gap. Starting from Gap, you can plan a “Orcières-Merlette + Col du Noyer” double-climb itinerary, covering the highlights of both Stages 18 and 19 in one go.

20. Taiwanese Riders’ Viewing Perspective: Pacing on Long False Flats and Attack Timing on Summit Finishes

For Taiwanese riders, Stage 18 is a highly practical lesson, because it contains two types of terrain that Taiwanese riders encounter most often—yet most often ride poorly.

1. Long, Gentle Climbs: How to Ride an 11.5 km Climb at 5.4%

Côte d’Engins is an 11.5 km climb with an average gradient of 5.4%. This kind of “long and gentle” terrain is actually very common in Taiwan:

• The middle section of Provincial Highway 7A from the Yilan end towards Siyuan Pass
• The section of Provincial Highway 14A from Wushe to Cingjing
• Some long rolling climbs on Provincial Highway 3
• The entire section of Yangjin Highway climbing from the Jinshan end
• The Yuchang Highway and Ruigang Highway on the Hualien-Taitung loop

There are two common mistakes on this type of climb.

The first mistake is “riding a gentle climb like a steep one.” Many cyclists are used to treating climbing as something to “push through with sheer willpower,” so they also use low cadence, high torque pedaling on gentle slopes. But on a gradient around 5%, your speed can reach 18 to 25 km/h, and at that point air resistance already accounts for 30% to 40% of total resistance—using high torque and slow pedaling means paying the double price of both muscle fatigue and air resistance.

The correct approach is: maintain a higher cadence (85 to 95 rpm), stay seated, and keep a relatively low, aerodynamic upper body position. On gentle climbs, riding on the drops or the middle of the hoods instead of the tops can save a significant amount of power.

The second mistake is “going solo.” On gentle climbs, the power saved by drafting is still substantial (around 15% to 25%, depending on speed). This is why it’s extremely costly for professional riders to attack on a climb like Côte d’Engins—they have to overcome not just the gradient, but also the air resistance they face without the protection of the group.

The practical takeaway for amateur cyclists is: if you encounter a long, gentle climb during a group ride, don’t rush to the front. Stay in the group until the gradient steepens (above 7%) before considering a move. That’s when the benefit of drafting drops significantly, and the cost of attacking becomes more reasonable.

2. Summit Finishes: When to Make Your Move

On the 7.1 km climb, Carapaz tested at 4.4 km remaining and made his decisive move at 3.4 km remaining.

There’s clear physiological logic behind this decision. After exceeding Critical Power (roughly corresponding to 100% to 105% of FTP), the time you can sustain depends on the size of your anaerobic work capacity, W′. For a well-trained rider, W′ is approximately 15 to 25 kJ. If your attack power is 100 watts above critical power, then a 20 kJ W′ will only sustain you for about 200 seconds—three minutes and twenty seconds.

Converted to distance: climbing at 20 km/h on a 6.7% gradient, three minutes and twenty seconds covers roughly 1.1 km.

So why could Carapaz hold out for 3.4 km? Because his attack wasn’t a “continuous supra-threshold effort,” but rather “an explosive surge followed by settling back to slightly above threshold.” The truly supra-threshold part only lasted thirty seconds to a minute of the attack; afterwards, he dropped his power back to a sustainable level, relying on the gap he’d already established and his opponents’ psychological collapse to finish the remaining distance.

The lessons for Taiwanese cyclists are:

1. The purpose of an attack is to create a psychological and rhythmic disruption, not to crush opponents with pure speed. The key to a successful attack is the moment when “the opponent decides not to follow.”
2. You must immediately return to a sustainable power output after attacking. Many amateur cyclists keep going full gas after an attack, only to blow up thirty seconds later and end up worse off than before once they’re caught.
3. Doing a probing move before the decisive attack is valuable. Carapaz’s attack at 4.4 km remaining, which was caught, helped him shed two opponents (Johannessen and García Pierna) and also told him the condition of the remaining three riders. The cost of this move was worth the information gained.
4. On a fifteen to twenty-minute climb, the optimal attack point is usually at the 40% to 50% remaining mark. For example, on Wuling, if the effort from Cuifeng to Wuling takes about forty minutes, a reasonable attack point would be after Yuanfeng; on Fengguizui (about twenty minutes), the attack point would be around “after the big bend.”

3. The Cost of the Breakaway: 65 km of Full Gas

The most important lesson from Stage 18 is actually about the true cost of “getting into the breakaway.”

From the starting gun to the formation of the breakaway, the riders fought for 65 km, nearly an hour and a half of high-intensity attacks and counter-attacks. This means every rider in the breakaway had already expended a significant amount of energy before the race proper even began.

This explains two things:

• Why Carapaz said, “Today there was no pressure, but the next two days will be much harder to succeed”—because the competition for breakaways will only get more intense.
• Why Paré-Peintre lost to Carapaz on the final climb after taking the KOM points on all four climbs—because he had made four additional near-maximal efforts.

An analogy for Taiwanese cyclists: if you’re racing a 100 km age-group race and plan to break away mid-race, the question you should ask yourself isn’t “can I keep up,” but “how much have I already spent before I break away.” In a race, you have roughly three to five near-maximal efforts available; each one should have a clear purpose.

4. On Fuelling for High-Altitude Finishes

The finish at Isola 2000 sits at 1,825 meters above sea level, while the riders started from the Isère valley at around 200 meters. A four-hour and twenty-six-minute race, combined with temperatures of 26°C—this was a race that demanded precise fuelling.

Modern professional riders at this intensity now consume 90 to 120 grams of carbohydrates per hour (using a glucose-fructose blend to bypass the intestinal absorption limit). Over a four-and-a-half-hour race, that translates to 400 to 540 grams of carbohydrates.

Taiwanese cyclists tackling Wuling, Beihorng, or any long ride exceeding four hours can follow this principle: aim for 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrates per hour (amateur gut tolerance is usually lower than a pro’s and needs gradual training), and write out your fuelling plan before you start—when to eat, what to eat, where to refill water—rather than “eating when you feel hungry.”

Additionally, altitude affects appetite and gastrointestinal function. Above 1,500 meters, many people experience a “can’t eat” situation. The solution is to front-load your fuelling—finish most of your solid food before you start the main climb, and rely only on energy gels and sports drinks for the final ascent.

5. Finally: Why This Kind of Stage Is the Best to Watch

Stage 18 saw no change in the general classification, and Pogačar only finished 13th. Yet it was still one of the best stages of this Tour de France.

The reason is simple: when the suspense of the overall classification disappears, the race returns to its most primal form—a group of riders with nothing to lose, giving everything to win a stage. The 65 km war for the breakaway, the battle for KOM points on four climbs, the reshuffling of the six-man group over the final 47 km, the two attacks on the last 7.1 km—every element was pure competition.

And on the same mountain, fifty-five years ago, a Spaniard named Luis Ocaña refused to accept that “some people cannot be beaten” in exactly the same way.

This is why the Tour de France is worth staying up all night for every July.

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