The Tour de France climbed into the Alps for the first of three straight mountain stages on Thursday, and there was no shortage of action from the early goings through to the top of the final climb. Stage 18 saw movement in the green jersey and polka dot jersey battles as well as a fierce fight for the stage victory itself, while the general classification contenders kept their powder dry even as race leader Tadej Pogačar's team showed signs of weakness.
Jonny Long
All things considered, we were left to ponder a few questions after EF Education-EasyPost's Richard Carapaz stormed to his second career Tour de France stage win. Here's what's on our mind – and what some of the key protagonists said – after stage 18 of the 2026 Tour de France.
Can anyone outscore Pogačar in the polka dot jersey battle?
Already wearing the polka dot jersey because actual mountains classification leader Tadej Pogačar is in yellow, Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-Quick Step) was on a mission to compile more KOM points on Thursday. He outkicked Carapaz again and again over the course of the day to take maximum points on the intermediate summits before Carapaz took the biggest prize of all at the finish. By day's end, Paret-Peintre was only one point away from taking control of the KOM lead with Carapaz close as well at seven points back of Pogačar's total of 70.
So does either rider actually have a chance to wrest the mountains classification from Pogačar's grasp for good?
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