Carapaz wins Tour stage 18 as UAE hit by sickness
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Richard Carapaz won stage 18 with a commanding breakaway, finishing 45 seconds ahead of Switzerland's Mauro Schmid and Matteo Jorgenson of Visma-Lease a Bike.
- Brandon McNulty abandoned mid-stage after drifting several minutes behind the peloton, the second UAE domestique to fall ill after Britain's Adam Yates vomited following the stage 16 time trial.
- Tadej Pogacar retained the yellow jersey with a 4 minute 32 second lead over Belgium's Remco Evenepoel and 6 minutes 51 seconds over UAE teammate Isaac del Toro of Mexico.
- Mads Pedersen of Denmark extended his green jersey classification lead to 32 points over Belgium's Jasper Philipsen.
- Pogacar is chasing a record-equalling fifth Tour win, which would tie him with Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.
- The next two stages both finish on Alpe d'Huez and include four uncategorised climbs, raising the cost of UAE's depleted climbing support.
Why it matters: Pogacar's 4:32 cushion over Evenepoel should still hold, but losing two climbing domestiques before two consecutive Alpe d'Huez summit finishes materially weakens his tactical options and forces more work onto the yellow jersey himself in the race's most brutal terrain.
