The 111th edition of the Tour de France delivered another dramatic day of racing in the French Alps on Thursday, as Ecuadorian cycling veteran Richard Carapaz executed a perfectly timed late attack to secure victory on the 18th stage, while overall race leader Tadej Pogacar retained his comfortable advantage at the top of the general classification.
The 185-kilometer route from the lower Alpine approaches to the finish at the Orcières-Merlette ski station marked the first of three consecutive days of high-mountain climbing, opening with an early Category 1 ascent up Côte d’Engins before capping the day with a second demanding Category 1 climb to the stage finish. After the opening climb, American rider Matteo Jorgenson broke away to the front of the race with a small lead group, and Carapaz later bridged the gap to the front as Pogacar’s yellow jersey group, containing all the overall classification contenders, held back strategically. The 33-year-old Ecuadorian, a former Giro d’Italia champion who already claimed one Tour de France stage win earlier this 2025 edition, launched his decisive attack roughly three kilometers from the summit of the final climb. Neither Jorgenson nor Swiss rider Mauro Schmid, his two breakaway companions, could match Carapaz’s power on the steep gradient, and he rode solo to the finish line to seal the win, crossing 45 seconds ahead of second-place Schmid and third-place Jorgenson.
Carapaz narrowly avoided disaster mid-attack when a spectator standing in the road forced him to swerve sharply to avoid a collision, but he maintained his momentum and held his lead all the way to the line. Crossing the finish, he patted both sides of his head in a gesture of emotional disbelief before celebrating a career milestone. This victory marks Carapaz’s second Tour de France stage win of his career and his first at this year’s race, coming after a failed breakaway attempt earlier in the 2025 edition that left him empty-handed despite a strong effort.
“This is a wonderful victory. I dedicate it to my family,” Carapaz told reporters after the finish. “It’s been a special day. It took a lot of hard work. This is the most rewarding thing for me, knowing that the work I put in has paid off. This final climb was tough and suited my strengths well. This was a hard-fought victory, but just as tough as the first one. It gets harder every year to win here.”
Pogacar, the Slovenian cycling star gunning for his third consecutive Tour de France title and fifth overall Grand Tour victory, finished a few minutes behind Carapaz in a large chase group that included his closest general classification rival, Belgian time trial specialist Remco Evenepoel, and third-place overall rider Isaac Del Toro, Pogacar’s teammate from UAE Emirates XRG. Because Carapaz sits 10th in the overall standings and is not considered a threat to Pogacar’s yellow jersey, the overall contenders chose not to chase down his breakaway, letting the breakaway fight for the stage win while conserving energy for the coming days of even harder climbing. Pogacar, who has already won four stages at this year’s race, noted after the finish that no overall contender was willing to commit the energy needed to chase down the breakaway.
There were no changes to the top of the overall standings after Thursday’s stage. Pogacar holds a commanding lead of 4 minutes and 32 seconds over Evenepoel, a two-time stage winner at this year’s Tour, while 22-year-old Mexican rider Del Toro remains in third place, 6 minutes and 51 seconds behind Pogacar.
The race now faces two days of extraordinarily brutal Alpine climbing that will test the contenders’ endurance ahead of Sunday’s final parade stage into Paris. Friday’s 19th stage will finish atop L’Alpe d’Huez, one of the most iconic and legendary climbs in professional cycling, which is rated a Hors Categorie (HC) – the highest difficulty ranking for Tour climbs. Saturday’s penultimate 20th stage is one of the most challenging routes in recent Tour history, featuring three consecutive HC climbs: Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Galibier, and Col de Sarenne, plus an additional Category 1 climb up Col du Télégraphe, before a hilly finish back at L’Alpe d’Huez. The 2025 Tour de France will conclude on Sunday with the traditional finishing circuit along Paris’ Champs-Élysées.