Hard work pays off: Carapaz nearly collides with a spectator then goes on to win a beautiful Tour de France stage
CyclingThursday, 23 July 2026 at 18:23
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Follow us on GoogleRichard Carapaz won stage 18 of the 2026 Tour de France on Thursday. The Ecuadorian rider managed to position himself at the front for the first time, thereby gifting himself and his EF Education-Easypost team a well-deserved victory in the Tour. The peloton remained calm, although a weakened UAE team did lose Brandon McNulty.
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From the start, it was a group of five that managed to ride away. With Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X), Mathis Le Berre (TotalEnergies), Lewis Askey (NSN), Aaron Gate and Nicolas Vinokourov (both XDS Astana), these were mainly strong riders on the flat. They arrived at the first climb of the day with a lead of about three-quarters of a minute.
On the Côte d'Engins, that lead quickly diminished, and thanks to the strong climbing attackers, the group of five was soon in vain. At the back, we saw Brandon McNulty drop very quickly, followed shortly after by Tim Wellens. The UAE team was struggling with illness, and there were already some minor concerns about that before the stage.
New battle erupts on the Côte d'Engins, Carapaz almost tripped up.
A new phase began, but no one managed to make an impact
A new phase began, but on the climb, no one managed to break away definitively. As a result, Valentin Paret-Peintre reached the summit first after a fine sprint, in the battle for the polka-dot jersey. On the Côte d'Engins, the top isn't really the top, as the climb featured a long and nasty stretch.
A strong breakaway group then rode away, including Matteo Jorgenson, Thymen Arensman, Mads Pedersen, Pablo Castrillo, Nicolas Breuillard, Felix Engelhardt, and Tobias Halland Johannessen. EF Education-EasyPost had (miraculously enough) missed the move, and consequently, things behind them were anything but quiet.
The American team tried to close the gap to the front, while the (top) favorite also had other things to get angry about. The rider from Ecuador nearly rode into a spectator who briefly considered himself more important than the race itself. The footage is quite shocking.
Read more below the video!
Grégoire and Carapaz bridge the gap
On the long descent, Romain Grégoire, wearing his French national champion’s jersey, managed to break away on his own, bringing the leading group up to eight riders. The peloton was still not far behind, about half a minute away. Carapaz, along with many other attackers alongside him, was still not giving up.
Together with Paret-Peintre, the EF rider tried again, and the pair ended up in a group with Mauro Schmid, Raul Garcia Pierna, Matias Vacek and, a little later, Egan Bernal as well. On the second climb of the day, they remained about 40 seconds behind the leaders. Not too far behind them was another large chasing group, including three EF riders.
Just before the summit, the groups merged, leaving us with 14 leaders. Paret-Peintre was once again the fastest in the mountain sprint, allowing the Frenchman to close the gap on Pogacar slightly. Pogacar was riding in the peloton, which had by then been left behind. The chasing group of around 30 riders, however, had not. They were still a minute and a half behind the leaders.
At one point, that gap suddenly narrowed to just over 20 seconds, but then widened again to nearly a minute. With 56 kilometres to go, it was time for the intermediate sprint, where Pedersen was able to claim the full points unchallenged. This was a major coup for the Dane: his lead over Jasper Philipsen increased from 7 to 32 points.
A new breakaway forms, many teams miss the move
Just over 45 kilometres from the finish, we saw the first breakaway at the front. Jorgenson, Johannessen, Schmid and Garcia Pierna broke away from the rest of the field and were then joined by Carapaz and Paret-Peintre, who had been marking each other all day. Netcompany INEOS had thus missed the break.
That group of six continued to extend their lead, and so it seemed early on that the winner would be one of those six riders. Jorgenson decided to make his move early, 25 kilometres from the finish. His acceleration forced Garcia Pierna to drop back. Meanwhile, McNulty had dismounted. UAE’s fears were thus confirmed.
Garcia Pierna returned before the summit, and at that top, Paret-Peintre was once again the first, almost caught off guard by Carapaz this time. A new acceleration by Jorgenson leading up to the final climb also yielded no result. The decision would therefore truly be made on the final climb to Orcières-Merlette.
Carapaz launches a devastating surge on the final climb
On the opening sections of the final climb, things remained unnervingly quiet amongst the six front-runners. The pace was kept low, meaning virtually everyone could easily stay on their wheels. It was just a matter of waiting for the first surge. Meanwhile, five minutes behind, Red Bull had taken the lead of the peloton. Would we see any action yet amongst the GC contenders? Were teams looking to test a potentially weakened UAE?
Jorgenson made an initial probe at 4.5 kilometres, but everyone was still able to stay with him. A little later, Carapaz attacked, and this was a much stronger move: only Paret-Peintre could follow. Schmid, and shortly afterwards Jorgenson too, managed to hang on, whilst Johannessen and certainly Garcia Pierna were struggling considerably more. So the group of six had been whittled down to four.
A fresh surge by Carapaz at 3.4 kilometres from the finish went unanswered, and so the EF rider pulled away from the rest at a blistering pace. The pace, the cadence, the corners: everything about Richy’s surge was superb. Despite a frantic attempt by Schmid and Jorgenson, no one else managed to catch Carapaz, who, having already secured the Tour’s leader’s jersey, thus claimed his well-deserved victory.
After that, it was a brief wait for the peloton, which had by then transformed into a group of favourites. It looked as though there would be no drama there, although the pace on the final climb was still considerably higher than earlier in the day. There were no time gaps at the finish, though we did see a little sprint for prestige. It was another great stage in the Tour!
Results Stage 18 of the 2026 Tour de France
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David Bavin-HobbsChief Editor
David has been working in the sports & cycling industry for 16 years. Covering racing, business and technology, he has worked in communications for cycling companies, teams, and as a journalist. His proudest achievement is winning the first bike race he ever entered. He hasn't won a race since.
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Latest Comments
- - Qué tragedia. Muito respeito para a família. The investigator’s timeline helps, but still feels like a systemic safety failure on open-road races during descents.jeremya16-08-2026
- - Can someone explain what the broom wagon actually signifies? If it hadn’t passed, why was a civilian car allowed on course at all? I’m confused how those protocols work when riders are scattered.tourdeforce916-08-2026
- - Sorry, but this reads a bit like passing the buck. If signage was the only control at that junction, that’s not enough. A single marshal could have prevented this. Operational plan might’ve been followed, but was it adequate?gearguru3316-08-2026
- - If the GNR says it’s “humanly impossible” to cover every access point, shouldn’t organisers rethink neutral service positioning or add mobile motos for gaps on fast descents? This was a secondary access, but speed on that downhill made it primary in practice.jennifer1916-08-2026
- - Heartbreaking. The detail about the broom wagon not yet passing is crucial—explains why Finlay thought the road was still sealed. Condolences to his family and team. RIP Fin.robert6516-08-2026
- - Tears on the front row for NSN… goosebumps. Chapeau to the bunch for letting them lead the pace. Esto es el verdadero espíritu del ciclismo.julien15-08-2026
- - Not sure about the “put it in perspective” line referencing other deaths. I get what he meant, but it lands a little cold in this context. The sport must own its safety issues.jeremya15-08-2026
- - Sorry, bit confused—how was Tarling racing Portugal but commemorated in Norway? Are there multiple races at the same time and teams pay tribute across events?robert6515-08-2026
- - Poels speaks from a place of pain, you can feel it. Losing Gino still casts a shadow. His point about rising frequency of tragedies is worrying—UCI needs to accelerate road safety reforms, motos, convoy management, and race routing.sprocketspiny15-08-2026
- - Heartbreaking. RIP Finlay. The neutralised start and minute’s silence in Norway were handled with real class by the peloton.patriciaw15-08-2026
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