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What a phenomenal stage we witnessed on Wednesday at the Tour de France. There’s no time to catch our breath, as another exciting stage is on the schedule for Thursday. The strong climbers among the breakaway riders will be hoping for what appears to be their last chance in this Tour de France. As ever, IDL Pro Cycling looks ahead!
2026 Tour de France stage 18 route
Starting from Voiron—which is also the finish line for the seventeenth stage—we’ll embark on a long mountain stage. The route covers 185 kilometers and includes nearly 4,000 meters of elevation gain. “Hidden” is the right word, because at first glance, it doesn’t seem like it will be a very difficult mountain stage. But appearances can be deceiving.
The first 23 kilometers will be completely flat, but then the real work begins. The Côte d'Engins is a Category 1 climb (11.4 km at a 4.5 percent gradient). But that distance is actually a bit misleading: after the mountain sprint, the road will continue to climb for well over sixteen kilometers. It’s a gentle climb, but it’s going to be grueling. Especially if the battle for the breakaway is fierce, those kilometers will feel incredibly tough.
After a descent, there is a short valley where the terrain is relatively flat. The next climb is the Côte de Monteynard. It is similar to the first climb (9.7 km at 5 percent) and is a Category 2 climb. We then continue along a sort of plateau. The Côtes des Terrasses (3.4 km at 6.6 percent) follows shortly thereafter, after which there is an intermediate sprint in Corps.
We still have about 56 kilometers to go. A relatively flat stretch lies ahead, but the Alps on the left show where the peloton will have to head. The road climbs gently toward Forest-Saint-Julien, after which the Côte de Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes (2.5 km at 6.7 percent) kicks off the final stretch. A short descent quickly brings us to the foot of the final climb.
It’s officially 7.1 kilometers long, but the climb starts to get steep a few kilometers before the starting point. It’s not really that tough, with an average gradient of 6.7 percent. The steepest kilometer is early on the mountain, at 8.2 percent. After that, the gradients fluctuate around 7 percent. After climbing 4,000 meters (and seventeen stages), it’s bound to feel tough. In any case, the road to the Orcières-Merlette ski resort will be scenic and winding.
Times
Start: 12:50 p.m CET
Finish: around 5:10 p.m CET
Weather Forecast Stage 18 of the 2026 Tour de France
Just like Wednesday, Thursday will be a warm day in Voiron. At the start, it will be around 31 degrees, but the riders have experienced even hotter conditions. The wind will be at their backs heading toward Orcières-Merlette, where it will be warm at the base, but at an elevation of 1,850 meters, the temperature will rise to about 23 degrees. So, it’ll be nice and pleasant.
Favorites Stage 18 of the 2026 Tour de France
On paper, it looks like this might be the last chance for the strong climbers in this Tour de France. There weren’t many opportunities for them, and that was mainly due to UAE Team Emirates-XRG. Given the dominance of the team from the Emirates, we’ll briefly mention Tadej Pogačar and Isaac Del Toro, though that scenario seems somewhat unlikely given the grueling stages that follow.
In that scenario, of course, we also have to mention the rest of the general classification contenders. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) has already beaten Pogacar once (or twice?) in this Tour, and behind him, Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) has also shown some very promising form. Juan Ayuso, riding for Lidl-Trek—which also has Mattias Skjelmose on its roster—was in mediocre form.
So we’re looking for climbers who aren’t in contention for the general classification. In the Tour, that quickly leads us to Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), who has already indicated that Thursday’s stage could be right up his alley. Also definitely one to watch: Richard Carapaz of EF Education-Easypost, which also has contenders like Ben Healy and Alex Baudin.
At Visma | Lease a Bike, they did, of course, have a team leader at first, but Jonas Vingegaard was forced to withdraw after fracturing his collarbone. The plan for the third week quickly became clear: to go for the stage win every day. That’s why we certainly expect big things from the Dutch team, which includes Matteo Jorgenson, Davide Piganzoli, and Sepp Kuss.
From an aggressive Astana team, we’ll be watching Harold Tejada—who already finished second in Stage 13—and Sergio Higuita. We certainly expect some strong performances from INEOS as well, with riders like Thymen Arensman, Egan Bernal, and Kévin Vauquelin—though the latter hasn’t shown much on the climbs yet. Jayco AlUla also has three dangerous contenders in Mauro Schmid, Luke Plapp, and Ben O’Connor.
Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) should also be more than capable of doing this, as should Pablo Castrillo, Einer Rubio (both Movistar), Michael Storer (Tudor), and, to a slightly lesser extent, George Bennett (NSN) and Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural).
Finally, we’ll also take a look at a dangerous group of riders who are just a bit further back in the standings. Riders like Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies), and Yanis Voisard (Tudor) might be able to take advantage of their multi-minute deficit.
IDL Pro Cycling top picks for Stage 18, 2026 Tour de France
Top Favorites: Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost)
Dark horses: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X), and Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5)
Long shots: Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike), Thymen Arensman, Egan Bernal (both Netcompany INEOS), Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla), Pablo Castrillo (Movistar), and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious)
