Ecuadorian takes impressive victory at Orcières-Merlette as Tadej Pogacar maintains overall lead despite illness concerns in his team161km to go The five riders up the road are Mathis le Berre (TotalEnergies), Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), Nikolya Vinokurov, Aaron Gate (XDS Astana) and Lewis Askey (NSN). They managed to get 45secs on the main bunch but that is about to disappear rapidly.174km to go Five riders have broken away and churned out a lead of around 20 seconds. That is unlikely to last when they hit Côte d’Engins shortly.
Ecuador's Richard Carapaz wins stage 18 of the Tour de France following a commanding breakaway. Richard Carapaz roars clear of breakaway to win stage 18McNulty abandons, Wellens and Vermeersch struggleRichard Carapaz won stage 18 of the Tour de France after a breakaway group of six riders duelled their way to the winter sports station at Orcières-Merlette, but uncertainty surrounds the health of race leader Tadej Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates XRG, which has been swept by a virus since Monday’s rest day.After Adam Yates’s stage-long calvary on the road to Voiron, Pogacar’s team was further weakened by the abandonment of his American colleague, Brandon McNulty, who quit the Tour with 21km of Thursday’s stage remaining. ORCIERES-MERLETTE, France (AP) — Ecuadorian rider Richard Carapaz timed his attack perfectly in the final climb to win the 18th stage of the Tour de France on Thursday, while Tadej Pogacar finished a few minutes behind and maintained his significant overall lead.It was the 33-year-old Carapaz’s first stage win at this year’s race and second overall.
He was not chased down by Pogacar because he is not considered a threat to win the Tour, and is in 10th spot.“This is a wonderful victory,” Carapaz said. “I dedicate it to my family.”After moving ahead about 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the summit, Carapaz raced clear. He patted each side of his head as he approached the finish line, and was 45 seconds ahead of Swiss rider Mauro Schmid and American Matteo Jorgenson.“It’s been a special day.
It took a lot of hard work,” said Carapaz, who failed to win with a similar breakaway earlier in this year’s race. “This is the most rewarding thing for me, knowing that the work I put in has paid off.”Pogacar is chasing a third straight Tour title and fifth overall. The Slovenian star rolled over the line in a large group containing his closest rival Remco Evenepoel and Pogacar’s UAE Emirates XRG teammate Isaac Del Toro.There was no change overall as Pogacar maintained his lead of 4 minutes, 32 seconds over the Belgian time trial star Evenepoel, the winner of two stages at this year's race, and 6:51 over the 22-year-old Mexican Del Toro in third overall.Thursday's stage was the first of three straight days of Alpine climbs.The 185-kilometer (115-mile) trek featured an early Category 1 climb — the second-hardest category — up Côte d'Engins, before ending with a Cat.
1 ascent to the Orcières-Merlette ski station.After going over Engins, Jorgenson was in a small group at the front. They were then joined by Carapaz with Pogacar's yellow jersey group clearly hanging back.“I think nobody would really commit,” said Pogacar, who has won four stages at this year's race.Carapaz's stage could have ended when he had a near miss with a fan stood in the road, just swerving around him in time.Heading into the final climb up Orcières-Merlette, Jorgenson and Schmid could not respond when Carapaz, who won the 2019 Giro d’Italia, attacked.“This final climb was tough and suited my strengths well,” said Carapaz, whose other Tour stage win came in 2024. “This was a hard-fought victory, but just as…
Auf die Radprofis warten schwierige Alpen-Kletterpartien. Bei der Bergankunft in Orciéres-Merlette jubelt ein Ausreißer aus Ecuador. Pogacars Team bekommt es mit gesundheitlichen Problemen zu tun.
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