RICHARD CARAPAZ CONCOURS STAGE 18 IN TOUR DE FRANCE ⁰

 

Richard Carapaz celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win Stage 18 of the Tour de France on Thursday.

Ecuador's Richard Carapaz climbed into the overall top 10 at the Tour de France with his Stage 18 victory in the Alps on Thursday.

Carapaz, 33, finished the mountainous 185.2-kilometer trek from Voiron to Orcieres-Merlette in 4 hours, 26 minutes and 21 seconds. He pulled away on the last ascent of the day and covered the final 3 kilometers solo.

Switzerland's Mauro Schmid was the runner-up for the second straight day, 45 seconds behind, and American Matteo Jorgenson placed third.

Carapaz moved into 10th place in the overall standings.

Four-time champion Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia still leads the competition by 4 minutes and 32 seconds over Belgium's Remco Evenepoel. Mexico's Isaac del Toro is third, followed by 19-year-old Frenchman Paul Seixas and Spain's Juan Ayuso.

Stage 19 on Friday is a 127.9-kilometer route through the mountains from Gap to Alpe d'Huez. The 113th edition of the Tour de France concludes on Sunday in Paris.

--Field Level Media

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AT THE GIRO D'ITALIA 2025

 

TADEJ POGACAR CELEBRATES HIS 3RD TOUR THE FRANCE VICTORY IN STYLE WITH ANOTHER AUDACIOUS STAGE WIN

AP Photo 

 Tadej Pogacar had no need to attack on the final stage of the Tour de France. Defending a lead of more than five minutes in Sunday's time trial, he was set to comfortably win the race for the third time and first time in three years, anyway.

But defense has not been in his vocabulary during this race and he simply could not resist another attack.

With his main rival Jonas Vingegaard unable to challenge him, Pogacar celebrated his Tour victory in style with a dominant win in the time trial ending in Nice for the 17th stage win of his already illustrious Tour career.

The 25-year-old Slovenian rider also became the first cyclist to secure the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in the same year since the late Marco Pantani in 1998.

“To win both together is another level above,” said Pogacar, who rides for UAE Team Emirates. “I think this is the first Grand Tour where I was totally confident every day. Even at the Giro I remember I had one bad day. This year, the Tour was just amazing. I was enjoying it from day one.”

AP Photo 

The two-time defending champion Vingegaard of Denmark was second overall. He also finished the 21st and final stage in second place.

Pogacar won the 34-kilometer (21-mile) time trial on the French Riviera's roads from Monaco to Nice in 45 minutes, 24 seconds. Vingegaard was 1 minute, 3 seconds behind him and Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel 1:14 back in third spot.

In the overall standings, Vingegaard finished 6:17 behind Pogacar and Evenepoel was third overall, 9:18 behind Pogacar — whose other Tour wins came in 2020 and 2021.

"I’m super happy. I cannot describe how happy I am after two hard years in the Tour de France," Pogacar said. “This year everything (was) perfection.”

The race did not finish in Paris as it usually does because of the Olympic Games. Nice mayor Christian Estrosi called the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the southern French Alps “perfect cycling territory.”

From early Sunday morning, fans camped along the popular Promenade des Anglais in Nice to guard a spot that would offer the best glimpse of cyclists.

Some fans chanted “Remco, Remco” as the race-against-the-clock specialist zoomed past them.

They may have been surprised to see Pogacar going flat out.

AP Photo 

After his explosive attack on Friday, Pogacar said he would not try to win Saturday’s stage. Yet he still won it to become the second man to clinch five mountain stages in one Tour after Italian rider Gino Bartali in 1948.

Pogacar led Vingegaard overnight by 5 minutes, 14 seconds. But the lure of another stage win proved too strong and he flew down the winding roads past picturesque Èze and Villefranche-sur-Mer on the approach to Nice, where the route flattened out again.

Pogacar held out three fingers as the finish line and a sixth stage win approached on this year’s Tour — the same number of stages he won when dominating the Giro d’Italia.

It was Pogacar’s biggest winning margin of his three Tour wins — beating the 5:20 gap on Vingegaard three years ago, but below the 7:29 victory margin Vingegaard enjoyed over Pogacar last year.

The battle with Vingegaard was not as close as it might have been in different circumstances.

The 27-year-old Vingegaard was hospitalized for nearly two weeks in April following a high-speed crash in the Tour of the Basque Country. He resumed competitive racing only on this Tour.

AP Photo 

“Under normal circumstances, I would be disappointed with my Tour de France. But, after everything I’ve gone through, I can’t be disappointed," Vingegaard said. “I would have loved to go a bit further, but it is what it is. I would like to come back to the Tour de France and win it again ... I believe the yellow jersey is the most beautiful jersey in road cycling.”

Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz won the best climber's polka dot jersey while Eritrea's Biniam Girmay won the top sprinter's green jersey and the 24-year-old Evenepoel capped a fine debut Tour with the white jersey for best young rider.

“I feel like I’m floating through the sky. It’s super nice," Girmay said. "I just want to say for the young kids, keep working hard and everything is possible.”

- JEROME PUGMIRE

TADEJ POGACAR RETAINS YELLOW JERSEY WITH TOUR DE FRANCE STAGE 20 WIN

COL DE LA COUILLOLE, France -- Tadej Pogacar equaled one Tour de France mark Saturday and will likely match another Sunday.

Yellow jersey-holder Pogacar edged defending champion Jonas Vingegaard at the top of Col De La Couillole to win the 20th and penultimate stage and add even more seconds to his considerable lead.

It was a fifth stage victory this month for the two-time champion, who stretched out his arms as he crossed the line before holding up his fingers to signal his number of wins.

The only other man to have won five mountain stages in one Tour was Gino Bartali in 1948.

"If you told me this before the Tour, I would not have believed you," Pogacar said. "It's out of this world actually. I'm so happy.

"[Five stages] is more than enough. One would be enough. Just the yellow jersey would be enough. But it is how it is. You don't brake in cycling."

Pogacar attacked from the leading duo with 150 meters remaining and beat Vingegaard by seven seconds.

It will likely be the same positions on the final podium Sunday after Pogacar extended his lead to 5 minutes, 14 seconds, over two-time defending champ Vingegaard, his closest rival.

Third-place Remco Evenepoel lost even more time. He crossed the line in fourth, behind Richard Carapaz, and lost 53 seconds to Pogacar to fall 8:04 behind the Slovenian star.

The Tour ends Sunday on the French Riviera with a 21-mile time trial from Monaco to Nice, and not in Paris as it usually does because of the Olympic Games.

Barring incident, Pogacar is almost certain to reclaim the Tour crown from Vingegaard and in doing so secure a rare Giro d'Italia and Tour de France double. The last rider to win both in the same year was the late Marco Pantani in 1998.

"I enjoyed [the stage] very much," Pogacar said. "It didn't go as we planned, but I couldn't be happier with that, another stage win. Just one more day ... and tomorrow I think I'm going to enjoy it as well."

After his explosive attack the previous day, Pogacar said he would not try to win Saturday's stage, a short but brutal 83-mile route from Nice that featured three hard Category 1 ascents.

Indeed, the UAE Emirates rider just stayed with the rest of the reduced group of title contenders on the daunting 10-mile ramp up the Col de la Couillole until Vingegaard made his move and Pogacar sat on the Dane's wheel.

They swept up the remnants of the breakaway and caught up to the front two of Carapaz and Enric Mas with about 1.5 miles remaining.

First Mas and then Carapaz were dropped, setting up an intriguing battle in the final kilometer between the two cycling stars, but it was only a matter of time before Pogacar launched his sprint.

Moments after crossing the line, Pogacar pulled up and waited for Vingegaard to embrace him.

Vingegaard was hospitalized for nearly two weeks in April following a high-speed crash in the Tour of the Basque Country. He resumed competitive racing only on this Tour.

"In some kind of way I was hoping he would give it to me," Vingegaard said. "But I knew already that I had been riding so hard, if he would sprint I would have no chance as I was already on my limit.

"But you can always hope. But it's cycling, that's how it is. I don't blame him at all, I would do probably the same. I'm just happy with how I performed today and how I could come back from yesterday."

- Associated Press 

ADAM BEATS TWIN BROTHER SIMON IN YATES ONE-TWO ON TOUR'S OPENING

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Reuters 

Britain's Adam Yates pipped his own twin brother Simon to claim the opening stage of the Tour de France and don the first yellow jersey of this year's race at the end of a 182.5-km loop around Bilbao on Saturday.

Adam got the better of his identical twin to claim his first grand tour stage win, while his UAE Emirates team leader Tadej Pogacar finished third, also raising his arms in celebration.

Yates, who had set a devilish pace for Pogacar on the brutal climb shortly before the finish, pushed on in the descent to Bilbao, joined by his brother who is riding for the Jayco-AIUla team and already has two Tour de France stage wins to his name.

Adam was the stronger in the final uphill drag to prevail by four seconds, with Pogacar, who showed great legs in his first stage race since breaking a wrist in April, crossed the line 12 seconds off the pace.