Tour de France 2026 Favourites stage 18: Attackers in the Alps

fotobureau Cor VosStage 18 of the Tour de France kicks off a three-stage mountain trilogy. It is the easiest of the three, so you might expect the GC contenders to keep their powder dry for the two days ahead, that both finish in Alpe d’Huez. If so, the road will be open for a strong breakaway to fight for glory. (Slideshow route/profile)

First published on 1 July

Who the lucky ones will be is hard to predict in advance. During a Grand Tour, there are always GC contenders whose GC ambitions have faded who transform into dangerous stage hunters. There are also strong climbers who target stage wins from the very start. With the tough stages now coming back-to-back in the final week, their time has also come.

The route is relatively straightforward for a mountain stage. The riders tackle 3,900 metres of climbing over 185.2 kilometres. After a flat opening of around 20 kilometres, the Côte d’Engins (11.4 kilometres at 5.4%) provides the first launch pad for strong breakaway climbers. Then comes the Côte de Monteynard (9.7 kilometres at 5%), before a prolonged rolling section featuring the Côte des Terrasses (2.5 kilometres at 6.5%) as its main difficulty.

The rolling terrain gradually turns into an uphill false flat in the final 32 kilometres. The Côte de Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes spikes this section with around 20 kilometres to go (2.5 kilometres at 6.5%), after which the road continues to rise steadily towards the foot of the finish climb.

The road to the line in Orcières-Merlette averages 6.7% over 7.1 kilometres. It is a fairly steady effort.

We’ll continue to update this article in the build-up to the Tour de France.

Favourites 18th stage - 2026 Tour de France

*** Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Tom Pidcock, Lenny Martinez, Torstein Træen
** Luke Plapp, Lennert van Eetvelt, George Bennett, Mattias Skjelmose, Harold Tejada
* Tadej Pogacar, Paul Seixas, Jonas Vingegaard, Warren Barguil, Valentin-Paret Peintre

Another interesting read: route 18th stage 2026 Tour de France.

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