Search our site:

Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,

Friday, July 24, 2026

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page

In 1969, I gave up women and alcohol - it was the worst 20 minutes of my life. - George Best

Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, 2019: A Year of New Faces is available in both Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

July 4 - 26: Tour de France

Upcoming racing:

July 26: Vuelta a Castilla y Leon

Latest completed racing:

Tour de France stage eighteen reports

We posted the race organizer's report with the results.

Here's the report from stage winner Richard Carapaz's Team EF Education-EasyPost:

Richard Carapaz won Stage 18 of the Tour de France with a scintillating attack out of the breakaway on the ramp to Orcières-Merlette.

Richie fought his way into the front group after a ferocious start to the first great Alpine stage, made all of the right splits without wasting his strength, and took off on the final col. Richie attacked again and again. Once he was away, he soared. He braced himself against the pain, sitting, standing, and gritting his teeth, as he whirled all of his power into the pedals. Richie flew all the way to the summit and celebrated the victory that EF Education-EasyPost has been racing for since the very start of this Tour.

Richard Carapaz soloing to victory in stage 18. Sirotti photo

"It’s been a very special moment to win here at the Tour," Richard said. "It's something that you have to put absolutely everything into. I want to dedicate it to my family. This is the most important thing to me."

"It's incredible to win stage 18. It was tricky. It was a very, very tough day. I was ready to jump across and worry when there was a gap but I managed to with three riders and I was able to jump into the first group. It was a really tough climb. I waited for the right moment, and in the end, it just happened to be at the right time," he said.

Richie's teammates took up the challenge of getting him into the break with the same grit and spirit that they've shown since the Grand Départ in Barcelona, attacking again and again on the Côte d'Engins to try to get him away. When the squad missed a move over the summit of the first climb, Ben Healy, Georg Steinhauser, and Kasper Asgreen did huge turns on the front of the remains of the peloton to keep it in check. Richie tried to bridge across but was marked. On the Côte de Monteynard, he finally got away and powered to the front. Richie knew it was all going to come down to the final ascent, so he bided his time, collecting KOM points without sprinting hard, and made sure he got ahead of any splits in the break.

When he hit the foot of Orcières-Merlette, it was time for Richie to do what he does best. Richie waited for the steepest slopes and went. The Olympic champion launched an enormous attack and soared all the way to the summit, where he won in pure Richie style.

"[My stage win in 2024] that was a lot of battling and to get through it with this stage as well. I would say they were both really tough, to be honest. It's really difficult to win at the Tour. We knew what we were coming here for. We do what we had to do and today ended up being the special day. And we ultimately managed to accomplish what we had wanted for the last couple of weeks. We are really happy," Richie said.

Here's the Tour stage 18 report from second-place Mauro Schmid's Team Jayco AlUla:

Mauro Schmid continued to show is superb versatility at the Tour de France with a second consecutive second-place finish on stage 18.

Already a winner at the race after his phenomenal victory during the second week, the Team Jayco AlUla rider sprinted to second place yesterday in a chaotic stage 17. Today’s ride to Orcières-Merlette featured a lot more mountains, but Schmid was at the front again and climbed to the runner-up spot behind Richard Carapaz on the first category ascent.

Mauro Schmid headed to second place in stage 18. Sirotti photo

With chances for success dwindling fast as the finale in Paris looms close, there was plenty of action in the fight for position in the breakaway. German champion Felix Engelhardt, who was also in Wednesday’s escape, got himself into a six-man move after 60 kilometres of racing.

As the six forged on, the battle behind to jump clear of the peloton continued, and Schmid found himself in a group of nine riders trying to bridge the gap. The pace was fast, but the chase finally succeeded on the second climb of the day, the Côte de Monteynard.

Having put in a big effort to support Schmid, Engelhardt was distanced by the lead group inside the final 50km. The breakaway had just six riders left as they hit the slopes of the final climb with Schmid looking comfortable within it.

The Swiss rider was able to follow when Carapaz made his first attack, but the second acceleration from the Ecuadorian proved just too much. Nevertheless, Schmid paced himself up the climb with Matteo Jorgenson and beat the American in the sprint for the line to take second.

Mauro Schmid:
“Today, I’m happier than yesterday because there’s no shame in getting dropped by Carapaz on a climb like this. He was clearly the strongest in this group and I was just super happy to be in the breakaway and make it across. Having Felix there was really good because he brought me in a really good situation and gave me a little bit of a head start, so it was really good.

"It was a big fight to get into the breakaway, as expected, on the first climb and then over the top I thought it was pretty much done. We were quite happy to have Felix there but then after the downhill I found myself on the front. First with Ben Healy and then Mathias Vacek and some other guys, who were just sitting on. We thought maybe it wasn’t such a bad situation. Then we came across and it was pretty nice.”

Here's the Tour report from third-place Matteo Jorgenson's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

Matteo Jorgenson finished third in stage 18 of the Tour de France. The 27-year-old American from Team Visma | Lease a Bike was part of the breakaway in the first stage in the Alps. After a battle on the final climb, Richard Carapaz ultimately proved to be the strongest rider from the breakaway.

The Tour peloton headed into the Alps today. After the start in Voiron, the riders covered 185 kilometers to the summit finish at Orcières-Merlette. Along the way, they faced five categorized climbs. On the Côte d'Engins, the day's first climb, a prolonged battle unfolded for a place in the day's breakaway.

Eventually, a group of eight riders, including Jorgenson, managed to establish the first meaningful gap. Shortly afterward, a chasing group bridged across to the front of the race. With just over 40 kilometers remaining, the front group split again. Jorgenson proved the strongest together with Carapaz, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Mauro Schmid, Tobias Johannessen, and Raúl García Pierna. The six riders began the final climb together.

The peloton on the Orcières-Merlette climb. Sirotti photo

On the ascent to Orcières-Merlette, the attacks were delayed for a long time. Four kilometers from the summit, Jorgenson accelerated, only for Carapaz to respond immediately with an attack of his own. No one could match the Ecuadorian's pace. Carapaz went on to claim the stage victory in solo fashion. Behind him, Jorgenson sprinted against Mauro Schmid for second place but had to settle for third.

"I really believed I could win the stage," Jorgenson said afterward. "If I wanted to have a chance at victory, I needed to start the final climb solo. I tried, but the right moment to attack never came. I felt really good today. I'd even say this was my best day of the Tour so far. Unfortunately, it just wasn't enough to take the win. That's definitely disappointing."

And here's the Tour report from Valentin Paret-Peintre's Team Soudal Quick-Step

Valentin Paret-Peintre enjoyed a strong day at the front of the Tour de France Thursday, scoring lots of points on all of the day’s five classified climbs, which cemented his second place in the KOM classification and brought him within one point of leading the prestigious ranking.

Orcières-Merlette, where Luis Ocaña took a memorable victory in 1971, putting more than eight minutes into Eddy Merckx, was the first of the three consecutive summit finishes scheduled on the last week of the Grande Boucle. Before the showdown on its iconic slopes, the main story of the day was the fight between Valentin and Richard Carapaz (EF Educations-Easy Post) for the points that were up for grabs on the first four ascents.

Valentin Paret-Peintre finishes stage 18. Sirotti photo

Soudal Quick-Step’s climber came out on top each time and cemented his place in the mountains standings ahead of the next two days, which will bring a total of eight climbs and plenty of points. On top of this, Valentin was still able to finish close to the podium, in fourth place, after a day with an elevation gain of 4000 meters, which they rode at an average speed of more than 42km/h.

“It was a hard stage, and I’m not disappointed with not winning, because I know that I did my best. We went full gas from the beginning, which eventually took its toll on me in the closing kilometers of the stage. It was a good day at the front fighting for the polka dot jersey and I don’t have regrets. Now it’s important to recover and continue fighting for it in the next mountain stages”, Valentin said after his sixth top ten of the season.

Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,

Friday, July 24, 2026

Home

Racing Results & Archives

Bicycles & Cycling Lifestyle

Cycling History

Site Information