Carapaz exploits the mountain finish in Orcières-Merlette and jumps into the top ten – Pogacar stays in yellow

Of his five remaining breakaway companions, initially only the Frenchman Valentin Paret-Peintre could follow, who ultimately finished fourth with a gap of 1:14 minutes. Paret-Peintre thereby missed out on taking the lead in the mountains classification and remains one point behind Pogacar in second place. Carapaz moved to the top of the points classification with a lead of now 32 points over the Belgian Jasper Philipsen.

Jump into the top ten of the general classification

In the overall standings, Carapaz significantly reduced his gap to the peloton and climbed to tenth place with a cushion of more than four and a half minutes, displacing the Swiss rider Yannis Voisard from the Tudor team from tenth. The 33-year-old from EF Education-EasyPost celebrated his second Tour de France stage victory after 2024, reviving golden times.

Behind the breakaway riders, the peloton of favorites rolled across the finish line together. Pogacar, who was able to match his first chaser Remco Evenepoel in the final climb, wore black trousers with the yellow jersey for the first time in four years and finished 13th. Evenepoel finished ninth, while the Briton Tom Pidcock took ninth place in the general classification with a gap of 4:35 minutes.

Pogacar defends yellow with a comfortable margin

In the general classification, Pogacar remains a comfortable 4:32 minutes ahead of Evenepoel, with his UAE Team teammate, the Mexican Isaac Del Toro, following in third place 6:51 minutes back. The French super talent Paul Seixas sits in fourth place at 7:11 minutes, just 20 seconds behind Del Toro – an exciting duel for the podium is thus programmed.

Pogacar's team, however, had to absorb health setbacks ahead of the decisive weekend. The American Brandon McNulty abandoned the race exhausted, meaning Pogacar loses an important helper. The Belgians Tim Wellens and Florian Vermeersch had also already had to leave the race on the first Alpine stage.

Personnel worries for Pogacar's team

Pogacar was "sehr enttäuscht" about McNulty's withdrawal but looked confidently ahead to the coming weekend. "Wir überstehen die Etappe und versuchen, bis nach Alpe d'Huez zu kommen", said the four-time Tour champion. "Ich denke, wir können damit umgehen", said the Slovenian about the strained personnel situation. "Und dann schauen wir mal, was wir erreichen können."

His Cologne-based helper Nils Politt referred to the Corona era: "Halt wie in Corona-Zeiten, Hände desinfizieren, Maske an", he said. "Wir versuchen uns zu separieren." Politt did not know what was "rumgeht", he said about the illnesses in the peloton. "Man hört von vielen Fahrern im Feld, dass sie angeschlagen sind und krank sind", he said about the situation in the third week of the Tour.

Felix Großschartner, who had once again supported Pogacar in the fight against the competition, finished 32nd with a gap of nearly nine minutes and now sits 30th in the general classification. The Upper Austrian is currently riding "super gut" according to Pogacar. His compatriot Marco Haller from the Tudor team lost 34:13 minutes and is 146th in the general classification.

The German rider Felix Engelhardt finished about 40 seconds after Großschartner in 22nd place and was thus the best German. Adam Yates, who had already had to leave on Wednesday, was also unable to intervene in the fight for the top on the 18th stage.

Preview: First mountain finish at Alpe d'Huez

On Friday, the first of two climbing stages to the cycling mecca Alpe d'Huez is on the program. Over 127.9 kilometers, the route goes from Gap to the winter sports resort, with two second-category climbs and one first-category climb awaiting before the 13.8-kilometer final ascent with its 8.1 percent average gradient. At 128 kilometers, the stage is the shortest of this Tour apart from the time trials.

Pogacar is considered the top favorite for the stage victory in the famous 21 hairpins, as a success at this myth is still missing from his palmarès. "Alpe d'Huez ist immer etwas ganz Besonderes und es wird auf jeden Fall ein großes Spektakel", he said. His anticipation of Alpe d'Huez is apparently not dampened by the personnel worries.

Queen stage on Saturday with over 5,000 meters of climbing

One day later, the queen stage of the Tour again goes to Alpe d'Huez, but via a different route. The queen stage features 5,650 meters of climbing, including three ascents of the highest category. In two days, more than 9,000 meters of climbing await the riders.

The official record up Alpe d'Huez is held by Marco Pantani, who was later also suspected of doping, in 36:50 minutes from 1995. This historic benchmark could wobble on Friday. The final ascent over 13.8 kilometers has an average gradient of 8.1 percent.

"Es ist schon die dritte Woche, da haben alle Mannschaften ein bisschen zu kämpfen", said Pogacar with a view to the exhaustion in the peloton. "Ich denke, wir werden uns einfach treffen lassen." Fans in the Alps can thus look forward to a highly exciting finale with the showdown at the mythical Alpe d'Huez.