Richard Carapaz won stage 18 of the 2026 Tour de France with a lone attack to the mountaintop finish at Orcières-Merlette, crossing the line 45 seconds clear of Mauro Schmid and Matteo Jorgenson.

The Ecuadorian, riding for EF Education-EasyPost in bib number 41, covered the 185.2-kilometre mountain stage from Voiron in 4 hours, 26 minutes and 21 seconds. The route packed five categorised climbs and 3,900 metres of elevation gain, finishing with a seven-kilometre ascent to the winter sports station above the valley.

Carapaz went clear in a breakaway that also included Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Schmid (Jayco AlUla). He narrowly avoided colliding with a roadside fan during the stage before riding away to the win — his second Tour de France stage victory, having previously won at Superdévoluy in 2024. He was awarded the most combative rider prize for his efforts.

Behind the breakaway, the general classification favourites — the riders contesting the overall standings — called a truce. Nobody attacked. Tadej Pogačar retained the yellow jersey as overall leader with a total race time of 64 hours, 35 minutes and 13 seconds.

There was a reason for the quiet. UAE Team Emirates XRG, Pogačar's squad, has been swept by a virus that began spreading after the rest day. Brandon McNulty abandoned with 21 kilometres remaining. Tim Wellens revealed at the start that he had a sore throat and that other riders were unwell. Florian Vermeersch and Wellens both appeared to struggle on the road.

Adam Yates, another UAE teammate, had been fighting a stomach infection since at least stage 17, when he nearly missed the time cut — the maximum allowed gap to the stage winner. His participation in the final stages was in doubt, with team doctors set to decide whether he could continue.

Pogačar himself swapped his usual yellow shorts for black shorts during stage 18, which intensified speculation about illness within the team. He did not look in difficulty on the climbs, but the optics — the yellow jersey leader changing his kit mid-race — told their own story.

The overall standings remained unchanged at the top. Pogačar leads Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) by 4 minutes 32 seconds. Isaac Del Toro, Pogačar's UAE teammate, sits third at 6 minutes 51 seconds. Paul Seixas is fourth at 7 minutes 11 seconds, with Juan Ayuso fifth at 9 minutes 22 seconds.

In the other jersey competitions: Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) holds the green jersey for the points classification with 477 points. Pogačar leads the mountains classification with 70 points. Del Toro leads the best young rider standings, with Valentin Paret-Peintre wearing the white jersey on his behalf during stage 18. Lidl-Trek top the team classification.

Carapaz now sits tenth overall, 21 minutes behind Pogačar. The race continues on Friday and Saturday with consecutive mountain-top finishes on Alpe d'Huez — two stages that will test whether UAE's illness crisis opens the door or whether Pogačar can weather it and ride into Paris in yellow.