Key events<\/p>\n
News and stage 18 reportShare<\/a><\/p>\n So who is excited for tomorrow? I know I am. I\u2019ll be back on blog duty bringing you updates on the race up Alpe d\u2019Huez. In the meantime, here\u2019s the latest from Jeremy Whittle in Orcieres Merlette, his full report on today\u2019s stage will be on the site a little later on:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Tom Pidcock, who nabbed tenth on today\u2019s stage, tells TNT that he is not being allowed in the breakaway anymore and that he will be focusing on his GC position now. Do you believe him?<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Points classification standings<\/p>\n Pedersen\u2019s lead back to a more comfortable 32 after that breakaway ride today:<\/p>\n 1. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 477 Share<\/a>King of the Mountains standings<\/p>\n Heartbreakingly close for Paret-Peintre:<\/p>\n 1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 70 Share<\/a>GC standings after stage 18<\/p>\n I said no change in the top ten, but Carapaz has replaced Yannis Voisard of Tudor:<\/p>\n 1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 64hrs 35mins 13secs Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.49 EDT<\/p>\n Stage 18 official result<\/p>\n Confirmation of Carapaz\u2019s victory:<\/p>\n 1. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) 4hrs 26mins 21secs Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.37 EDT<\/p>\n There\u2019s a half-hearted sprint for the line from the GC group, but there will be no change in the top ten from yesterday.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n With the stage decided, will we see any attacks in the GC race? Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe are riding on the front. I\u2019ll stay with this until they finish.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Schmid follows up his stage 13 win with a second place today, with Jorgenson comes in third. Paret-Peintre crosses fourth, he\u2019s cut the polkadot jersey battle to one point but it could have been more.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Richard Carapaz wins stage 18!<\/p>\n Brilliant ride from the EF Education-EasyPost rider, he bided his time and then blew the breakaway to pieces on the final climb. Carapaz has been in the hunt a lot of over the last few stages and now has his prize.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.32 EDT<\/p>\n 1.5km to go Carapaz is riding away. The stage is his now.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 2km to go Carapaz has put 20 seconds into the rest and now Paret-Peintre is going backwards. The Frenchman is fourth on the road, which would see him agonisingly short of Pogacar\u2019s polkadot points tally.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 3.5km to go Carapaz goes again and Paret-Peintre can\u2019t go this time. Jorgenson and Schmid had just got back on but they\u2019re now all in a battle for the minor places. Carapaz timed that to perfection.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 4km to go Carapaz put down the power and Paret-Peintre goes with him. They\u2019ve distanced the rest of the group, it\u2019s surely between these two now.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 4.5km to go Jorgenson makes a little dart but Carapaz shuts that down. This is very cagey.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 5km to go The gradient is tipping towards double figures, back in the peloton Decathlon look to be lining up near the front. Does Paul Seixas fancy testing Del Toro\u2019s legs? That battle for the young rider\u2019s white jersey is veyr much alive.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 6km to go The road is about to get steeper, but still they ride together.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 8km to go it feels like the calm before the storm, the leaders are about a kilometre away from the categorised part of this climb. When will Carapaz strike out?<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 12km to go Jorgenson attacks again. This time the Visma-Lease a Bike man went as Johannessen was getting bottles from the team car, but he was quickly shut down.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 15km to go No moves as yet from the breakaway riders, all six together as they glide down a short descent before starting to go up again. The Orci\u00e8res-Merlette climb is 7.1km at an average of 6.7%.<\/p>\n Spectators look on during the stage. Photograph: Yoan Valat\/EPAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.55 EDT<\/p>\n Two more mountains points for Paret-Peintre!<\/p>\n A quick acceleration and the Frenchman is now just five points behind Pogacar in the race to become king of the mountains. Third place on the stage will be good enough now.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 20km to go Garcia is nearly back with the leaders, but if he\u2019s already struggling now I\u2019m not sure he has the legs when the road ramps up.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 21km to go Brandon McNulty has abandoned. He\u2019s been struggling with illness all day and looked very lonely cycling by himself in front of the broom wagon. That is a blow to UAE Team Emirates.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.54 EDT<\/p>\n 23km to go Garcia has dropped off following that attack, so six has become five. That was an incredibly poor prediction from me. Wow.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 25km to go We\u2019re at the foot of the category three C\u00f4te de Saint-L\u00e9ger-les-M\u00e9l\u00e8zes. I assume these six will stay together here, but as I type that Jorgenson attacks on a roundabout.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 34km to go Ian Stannard is a bit grumpy in the Netcompany Ineos team car. Understandable given they had two riders in the break and missed the move. Bernal and Arensman should not both be watching these leaders ride away, but they are. Another odd Tour for what was once cycling\u2019s dominant force. Oscar Onley may have added something had he not been injured but Dave Brailsford\u2019s return has failed to conjure any results so far, no stage wins and no rider in the top ten of any of the main classifications for Netcompany Ineos.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 43km to go After working to get across, Bernal and Gregoire will be kicking themselves they have missed this move in the break. They\u2019re more than 30 seconds behind now.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 45km to go And there you have it, Carapaz and Paret-Peintre have gunned off to join the escapists. Engelhardt has dropped off already, so we\u2019re looking at an elite group of six for these final two categorised climbs.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 47km to go With the second group on the road seemingly giving up the chase, we\u2019re seeing attacks off the front of the breakaway. Johannessen, Jorgenson, Schmid, plus Raul Garcia (Movistar) and Felix Engelhardt (Jayco AlUla) have got 11 seconds. Carapaz surely won\u2019t be letting this go.<\/p>\n Riders are reflected in a window during the stage. Photograph: Thibault Camus\/APShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.21 EDT<\/p>\n 51km to go The breakaway are on a descent now and it doesn\u2019t look like the chasers are catching them. The gap now between the leading two groups on the road is 1min 20secs. That isn\u2019t to say a rider from that rump of 28 won\u2019t try something on steeper slopes, but these two groups aren\u2019t coming together.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Pedersen takes the intermediate sprint!<\/p>\n Chapeau, Mads! He\u2019s earned every one of those 25 points. No one dared to go with him. Now the question is whether he tries to hang around for the final couple of climbs.<\/p>\n
2. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) 445
3. Biniam Girmay (NSN) 361
4. Max Kanter (XDS Astana Team) 271
5. Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) 230
6. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 165
7. S\u00f8ren W\u00e6renskjold (Uno-X Mobility) 159
8. Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) 131
9. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe) 130
10. Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) 129<\/p>\n
2. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) 69
3. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) 63
4. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe) 36
5. Paul Seixas (Decathlon) 34
6. Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) 30
7. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) 22
8. Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) \u201c
9. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) 20
10. Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) 18<\/p>\n
2. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe): +4mins 32secs
3. Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG): +6mins 51secs
4. Paul Seixas (Decathlon): +7mins 11secs
5. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek): +9mins 22secs
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek): +10mins 14secs
7. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious): +12mins 50secs
8. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5): +12mins 58secs
9. Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies): +14mins 04secs
10. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost): +21mins 00secs<\/p>\n
2. Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla): +45secs
3. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) \u201c
4. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step): +1min 14secs
5. Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility): +1min 57secs
6. Ra\u00fal Garc\u00eda (Movistar): +2mins 12secs
7. Pablo Castrillo (Movistar): +4mins 30secs
8. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious): +4mins 35secs
9. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull Bora-hansgrohe) \u201c
10. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) \u201c<\/p>\n