Elitettan

Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz won Stage 18 at Orcieres-Merlette from a select six-man breakaway on a day Valentin Paret-Peintre came close to the polka dot jersey and Mads Pedersen pulled off a green jersey coup.

With Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and his yellow jersey rivals keeping their powder dry before the Alpe d’Huez double header, Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) rode clear of Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla), Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) on the fifth and final climb of a tough 185km stage in the Alps to pick up his first win on the Tour de France since 2024 and rise back into the top 10.

After taking maximum King of the Mountain points over the first four climbs of the day, Paret-Peintre came up one point short of taking over the polka dot jersey outright from Pogacar, his fourth place in the stage also dashing the hopes of the host nation still searching for an elusive win.

But there was joy for Denmark’s Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) who put his disappointment from Stage 16 behind him to strengthen his grip on the green jersey.

Part of an early breakaway that formed after the first climb of the day, Pedersen was the cornerstone of a solid 14-man move that stayed out over the next two climbs. The Dane then took maximum points in the intermediate sprint – a whopping 129km from the start – to move 32 points clear of his nearest rival, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech).

Another engaging and unpredictable stage on the Tour featured the best part of 4,000 metres of climbing and countless riders trying their luck from the gun, with Carapaz’s EF Education-EasyPost team setting out their store early by standing out in their resplendent pink jerseys through a series of attacks from Ben Healy, Alex Baudin and Sean Quinn.

But when seven riders went clear after the first climb, as the road continued to edge uphill following the summit, EF had missed the split – leading to a frantic chase behind.

The move was instigated by Pedersen who spotted an opportunity after Philipsen – whose victory on Wednesday saw the Belgian come to within seven points of the Dane – was dropped on the climb.

Pedersen joined forces with Jorgensen, Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), Thymen Arensman (Netcompany INEOS), Pablo Castrillo (Movistar), Felix Englehardt (Jayco-AlUla) and Nicolas Breuillard (TotalEnergies), while EF led the chase behind with four riders in a large 28-man move.

A shake-out ensued on the next climb, with Carapaz and Paret-Peintre joining the leaders alongside Egan Bernal (Netcompany INEOS), Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ), Raul Garcia Pierna (Movistar) and the in-form Schmid, fresh from his second place in Wednesday’s sprint.

With the peloton now eight minutes back, Pedersen pushed on to win the intermediate sprint at Corps before the final six came to the fore: polka-dot jersey rivals Paret-Peintre and Carapaz, the American Jorgenson, Spain’s Garcia Pierna and Norway’s Johannessen.

Paret-Peintre continued to take maximum points over all the climbs to come to within five points of Pogacar – knowing that a top three finish in Orcieres-Merlettes would see him take over control of the KOM standings.

But when Carapaz put in a series of attacks with 3.5km remaining of the final climb, Paret-Peintre could only shake his head as the elastic snapped. Jorgenson and Schmid rode on but it was only ever a battle for second place, the Swiss pipping the American to ensure back-to-back bridesmaid finishes one week after his victory in Stage 13.

Fourth for Paret-Peintre saw him fall short by one point, with Carapaz now seven points down in what is shaping to be a thrilling battle for polka dots.

But with Pogacar and his GC rivals returning to the fore for the first of two finishes at Alpe d’Huez on Friday, the momentum in the polka dot and yellow jersey classifications looks to return to the Slovenian world champion.

An ostensible day of rest was not without its setbacks for Pogacar and his UAE team, however, with the withdrawal of the American Brandon McNulty through illness. On top of this blow, Adam Yates finished 29 minutes down while Tim Wellens came last, missing the time cut by two minutes, as sickness continued to takes its toll on Pogacar's crippled team.

Stage 19 is a short but sharp 130km test that features three categorised climbs ahead of the iconic 21 hairpins of Alpe d’Huez, where Pogacar will look to join the legends of the sport by winning there in yellow and having one of the switchbacks take his name.

The Slovenian will take a 4’32” lead over Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) after all the top 10 contenders finished safely in a small group just under five minutes behind the man of the moment, Carapaz, who took the 25th win of his career. No one from South America has now won more Grand Tour stages than the pocket-rocket 33-year-old climber from Ecuador.

Carapaz's victory also saw him rise to tenth in the general classification, albeit 21 minutes down on the four-time champion, Pogacar.

So close, yet so far for the Frenchman who finished fourth today…

1 Tadej Pogacar 70pts
2. Valentin Paret-Peintre 69pts
3. Richard Carapaz 63pts
4. Remco Evenepoel 36pts
5. Paul Seixas 34pts

The yellow jersey group swept up all the escapees bar the leading group of six in the end, with Tadej Pogacar finishing safely in 13th.

1. Richard Carapaz 4:26:21
2. Mauro Schmid +0:45
3. Matteo Jorgenson ”
4. Valentin Paret-Peintre +1:14
5. Tobias Johannessen +1:57
6. Raul Garcia Pierna +2:12
7. Pablo Castrillo +4:30
8. Lenny Martinez +4:35
9. Remco Evenepoel ”
10. Tom Pidcock ”

Tadej Pogacar and all the other riders in the top 10 cross the line in a group of around 15 riders around four and a half minutes down on the winner, Richard Carapaz. Something of a GC truce today with the Alpe d’Huez double header coming up.

A big blow for Pogacar, however, following the earlier withdrawal of his sick team-mate Brandon McNulty.

It’s successive second places for Mauro Schmid of Jayco-AlUla, who is in the form of his life. Second in a sprint yesterday and now second on a mountain top finish – just days after he won Stage 13 to Belfort.

Matteo Jorgenson’s wait for a first Grand Tour stage win continues as the American from Visma-Lease a Bike takes third.

Valentin Paret-Peintre a distant fourth for Soudal Quick-Step as the host nation still await their first win of the Tour.