Tour de France 2026: Stage 18 Live Updates and Analysis

Live Progress of Stage 18

The Tour de France stage 18 is entering its final stretch, with the mountain finish at Orcières-Merlette looming. The road is about to get steeper, but still they ride together as they approach the categorised part of this climb, which lies about a kilometre away from the leading group.

With 6km to go, the road is set to become more challenging. However, the main group continues to ride steadily. This move has significantly cut Pogacar's lead in the mountains classification, with Carapaz now just five points behind him in the race to become king of the mountains.

As the stage progresses, there are several key moments worth noting. At 12km to go, Jorgenson makes an early attack but is quickly neutralised by his teammates. Despite these challenges, Carapaz and Pétrement's move highlights their strong climbing abilities as they aim to secure polkadot points.

Support cars play a crucial role in navigating through the challenging terrain. The drivers, often ex-professional cyclists, provide vital intelligence to their teams. One reader noted that France 2's commentary was a mix of Welsh language and exclamations, adding an interesting cultural twist to the coverage. This highlights the diverse broadcast options available to Tour fans.

The absence of traditional ITV coverage is lamented by some fans who feel it diminishes the overall experience. However, other readers pointed out alternative live streams that provided full coverage in Welsh, showcasing efforts being made to make the event accessible to a wider audience.

Brandon McNulty has abandoned the race due to illness, which is a blow to UAE Team Emirates. This highlights the physical toll of the Tour on the riders. As the stage progresses, García struggles and drops off with the main group. Another rider attacks again but is quickly shut down by his team efforts.

With 25km to go, the Côte de Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes looms. Here, it's assumed that the six riders in the breakaway will stay together. However, on a roundabout, Jorgenson makes another attack, which is quickly neutralised.

At 34km to go, Ian Stannard, who was part of the Netcompany Ineos team, is grumpy in his support car. This frustration stems from missing out on moves by the breakaway riders and not being able to offer much help due to limited resources. This situation reflects the challenges faced by teams as they navigate through the race.

With 43km to go, Carapaz and Pétrement have made a move to join the escapists. García has dropped off, leaving six riders in this elite group heading towards the final two categorised climbs. Carapaz is surely not going to let this opportunity slip away.

As the second group on the road seems to give up the chase, attacks start to occur from the breakaway. Johannessen, Jorgenson, Schmid, García (Movistar), and Felix Engelhardt (Jayco AlUla) have managed to gain 11 seconds over the main pack.

With 67km to go, Pedersen is still in the lead breakaway group, targeting full points from the intermediate sprint. His performance has been impressive following Philipsen's result yesterday.

At 72km to go, Carapaz goes with Pétrement but doesn't push too hard, suggesting he might have grander designs for today. Pogacar’s lead in the mountains classification is now single digits by my count.

The breakaway group is working hard as they head up the category three Côte des Terrasses, with a couple more mountains classification points on offer for Pétrement. Great intel comes in from readers about the support car drivers. Matthew Cobb writes that all the drivers are ex-professional cyclists, a precondition imposed by the Tour organisers to avoid problems.

With 90km to go, there is another group out 40-odd seconds ahead of the peloton but lacking harmony for the chase.