Tour de France Riders Tackle 185.2km Mountain Stage 18 to Orcières-Merlette

Q: Can Richard Carapaz's stage victory propel him to steal the King of the Mountains jersey from Pogačar?

Not yet, but it has put Richard Carapaz firmly in contention. Carapaz’s Stage 18 win at Orcières-Merlette moved him to 63 points in the King of the Mountains standings, leaving him seven points behind Tadej Pogačar, who remains the actual leader on 70. Valentin Paret-Peintre is between them on 69 points and is wearing the polka-dot jersey only because Pogačar, as overall race leader, takes priority with yellow. The significance of Carapaz’s victory is that it came on a major Alpine stage with valuable climbing points, cutting the gap to a manageable margin just as the race enters more decisive mountain terrain. With two hard Alpine stages still to come, there are enough points available for Carapaz to overtake Pogačar if he keeps getting into breakaways and scoring on the climbs. That said, the jersey is still Pogačar’s to lose. He leads both the general classification and the mountains competition, and if he continues to collect points on summit finishes while defending yellow, Carapaz’s task becomes much harder. Carapaz has improved his position dramatically, but his stage victory alone did not steal the jersey. So the answer is yes in terms of momentum and possibility, but no in terms of the current standings: Carapaz has not taken the KOM lead yet.

Q: With his key teammate abandoning, is Tadej Pogačar's Tour de France lead truly safe heading into the final Alpine stages?

Pogačar’s lead looks strong, but it is not completely safe. After Stage 18, he still leads the Tour by 3 minutes 36 seconds over Jonas Vingegaard and 4 minutes 32 seconds over Remco Evenepoel, which is a substantial cushion this late in the race. Just as important, he showed no obvious weakness on the opening Alpine day, and Stage 18 was not widely seen as the decisive GC battleground compared with the harder climbs still to come. The concern is not his form so much as his support. Brandon McNulty’s abandonment through illness weakens UAE Team Emirates-XRG at exactly the point where the race enters its most dangerous mountain block. Reports also indicate other teammates have struggled, raising the risk that Pogačar could be isolated earlier on the climbs. In the Alps, that matters: rivals can force repeated accelerations, make him close moves himself, and exploit any bad day. Still, the numbers favor Pogačar. A gap of more than three and a half minutes is large, and neither Vingegaard nor Evenepoel has yet shown they can consistently take back that kind of time from him in this race. Modern race control, radios, and Pogačar’s own climbing strength also make a dramatic collapse less likely than in past Tours. So his yellow jersey is not untouchable, but it remains firmly in his hands. The final Alpine stages give his rivals their last real chance, yet they likely need both exceptional legs and a clear UAE collapse to turn the race.

Q: Has modern team strategy made legendary solo attacks, like Ocaña's in 1971, impossible in today's Tour de France?

Not impossible, but far less likely to decide the Tour the way Luis Ocaña’s 1971 attack did. Ocaña’s ride to Orcières-Merlette was extraordinary because it was both long-range and devastating to the general classification, taking 8 minutes 42 seconds out of Eddy Merckx. Modern racing makes that kind of GC ambush much harder. Team radios, constant time-gap data, power-based pacing and stronger domestique depth mean a race leader’s team can react quickly and organize a controlled chase before a rival gains minutes. Stage 18 of the 2026 Tour showed the modern pattern. Richard Carapaz won with a fine solo attack, but it came late, from a reduced breakaway, and did not seriously threaten Tadej Pogačar’s overall lead. The main contenders largely neutralized one another, even with UAE somewhat weakened by Brandon McNulty’s abandonment. That is typical: solo wins still happen, but usually for stages, not for overturning the yellow jersey. The route can still create openings, especially if a leader is isolated or has a bad day. Orcières-Merlette remains a place where pressure can expose vulnerability, just as it did in 1971. But today a major contender is rarely allowed the freedom Ocaña found. Any dangerous move is usually tracked and answered immediately. So modern team strategy has not made legendary solo attacks impossible. It has made the specific kind of long-distance, race-shattering solo raid that Ocaña produced much rarer and close to exceptional.

3 articles · Updated · Yahoo Sports · Jul 23

Stage 18 sent Tour de France riders over 185.2 kilometers of mountainous terrain from Voiron to Orcières-Merlette.
The route formed one of the race’s key climbing tests, with the latest report centered on highlights from the day’s action.
Orcières-Merlette hosted the finish after a long alpine-style stage, keeping the focus on endurance and mountain performance deep into the Tour.