Ecuador's Richard Carapaz claimed victory on stage 18 of the Tour de France on Thursday, launching a decisive solo attack on the final climb to Orcières-Merlette to take the second Tour stage win of his career. The EF Education rider, who had made several unsuccessful bids for a stage victory earlier in this year's race, proved the strongest in a select breakaway group, accelerating away with just over three kilometres to go and holding off all challengers to the finish. Swiss rider Mauro Schmid crossed the line in second place, with American Matteo Jorgenson of Visma-Lease a Bike taking third.

The stage ran from Voiron through the French Alps to the ski station of Orcières-Merlette — a finish made famous in 1971 when Spanish climber Luis Ocaña shattered the dominance of Eddy Merckx. A large breakaway formed early, eventually splitting into a leading group of six riders that included Carapaz, Jorgenson, Schmid, Egan Bernal, and Frenchman Valentin Paret-Peintre. Jorgenson, whose Visma team has refocused its ambitions on stage wins following the earlier withdrawal of team leader Jonas Vingegaard, launched an attack 43 kilometres from the finish, but the group regrouped for the decisive final climb — a first-category ascent of 7.1 kilometres at an average gradient of 6.7 percent. Carapaz attacked four kilometres from the summit, and when Paret-Peintre initially held his wheel, the Ecuadorean accelerated again with such force that no one could follow.

The victory also has implications for the mountains classification. Carapaz, who won the polka-dot jersey at last year's Tour when he also took a stage, now sits just seven points behind race leader Tadej Pogacar, who had been leading the King of the Mountains competition. Paret-Peintre came agonisingly close to taking the jersey from Pogacar but finished one place and one point short.

For Pogacar, who retains a commanding four-and-a-half-minute lead over Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel in the overall standings, the day brought a significant setback. His UAE Team Emirates squad is being depleted by illness and abandonment at a critical moment, with back-to-back summit finishes on Alpe d'Huez now looming. Key mountain domestique Brandon McNulty withdrew from the race during the stage, a day after another climbing teammate, Adam Yates, struggled badly. A third teammate, Tim Wellens, also reported feeling unwell on Thursday morning. By the time the peloton hit the final climb, Pogacar had only two teammates remaining — Isaac Del Toro and Felix Grossschartner — where he would normally have expected at least four. The Slovenian came home safely in a group of 13 riders containing the top ten in the general classification, but the attrition in his support team could prove costly in the demanding Alpine days ahead.