Alpine warfare begins in earnest as the Tour de France hits Stage 18, a 185.2km grind from Voiron to Orcières-Merlette that kicks off three brutal mountain days set to decide who wears yellow in Paris.
The Tour de France rolls into the high Alps on Thursday for the first of a three-day mountain gauntlet that could well settle this year's race before it reaches Paris.
Stage 18 runs 185.2km from Voiron to Orcières-Merlette, packing in 3,900m of climbing across five categorised ascents, with the finale arriving 1,825m above sea level after a 7.1km, 6.7%-average final wall.
Tadej Pogačar rides into the mountains in yellow, still holding roughly four and a half minutes on Remco Evenepoel after Wednesday's frantic sprint stage into Voiron, which Jasper Philipsen won off the back of a lead-out from Mathieu van der Poel - his first stage victory of this year's race.
With two summit finishes at Alpe d'Huez still to come on Stages 19 and 20, most of the GC favourites are expected to ride conservatively here, which should hand the breakaway a real shot at the win.
When Is Tour de France Stage 18?
Stage 18 takes place on Thursday, 23 July 2026, running from Voiron to Orcières-Merlette. The route covers 185.2km and is the fourth-longest stage of this year's race. Riders tackle five categorised climbs along the way:
- Côte d'Engins (Cat. 1) – 11.4km at 5.4% – km 36.7
- Côte de Monteynard (Cat. 2) – 9.7km at 5.0% – km 92.2
- Côte des Terrasses (Cat. 3) – 3.4km at 6.6% – km 112.8
- Côte de Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes (Cat. 3) – 2.5km at 6.9% – km 166.2
- Orcières-Merlette (Cat. 1) – 7.1km at 6.7% – km 185.2 (finish)
There's also an intermediate sprint at Corps, 129km into the stage. The riders roll out from a neutralised start before racing gets underway, with the finish expected in the late afternoon local time.
Orcières-Merlette has a bit of Tour history behind it: the ski station last hosted a finish in 2020, when Primož Roglič got the better of a young Pogačar in a headwind-affected sprint between the GC contenders. It's the resort's third Tour finish overall, dating back to 1971.
How to Watch Tour de France Stage 18 in the UK
UK cycling fans no longer have the free-to-air ITV4 option that covered the race for over two decades. Since the start of the 2026 Tour, TNT Sports and HBO Max hold the exclusive UK broadcast rights, meaning full live coverage of every stage - including Stage 18 - sits behind a paid subscription.
There are still some free options, though:
- Channel 5 airs daily highlights of the race, free-to-air, throughout the 2026 Tour.
- S4C and BBC iPlayer carry live coverage of a handful of stages in Welsh-language broadcast, and Stage 18 is among the stages included this year, alongside coverage on S4C Chwaraeon's YouTube channel.
- For full live stage-by-stage coverage in English, TNT Sports (on TV, via providers such as Sky, Virgin Media and EE TV) or an HBO Max subscription remain the main routes.
Tour de France Stage 18 Winner Odds
With the terrain suiting a strong climber capable of sustaining a long effort uphill rather than a puncheur, bookmakers have priced this as a genuinely open breakaway stage, with GC riders like Pogačar included mainly as an each-way, opportunistic pick rather than a stage-hunting favourite.
| Rider | Odds |
|---|---|
| Richard Carapaz | 4/1 |
| Tadej Pogačar | 11/2 |
| Tobias Halland Johannessen | 12/1 |
| Isaac Del Toro | 16/1 |
| Quinn Simmons | 18/1 |
| Valentin Paret-Peintre | 20/1 |
| Sepp Kuss | 20/1 |
Carapaz heads the market as he continues to chase both stage wins and the mountains classification, while Paret-Peintre and Johannessen have both featured in breakaway moves earlier in this year's race without landing a win. Pogačar's odds reflect his sheer class on a summit finish, even though he has said his real focus is on the two Alpe d'Huez stages that follow - and this exact finish is where he lost time to Roglič back in 2020.
Tour de France 2026 Full Schedule
| Stage | Date | Route | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (TTT) | 4 July | Barcelona – Barcelona | 19.6km |
| 2 | 5 July | Tarragona – Barcelona | 168.5km |
| 3 | 6 July | Granollers – Les Angles | 195.9km |
| 4 | 7 July | Carcassonne – Foix | 181.9km |
| 5 | 8 July | Lannemezan – Pau | 158.3km |
| 6 | 9 July | Pau – Gavarnie-Gèdre | 186.2km |
| 7 | 10 July | Hagetmau – Bordeaux | 175.1km |
| 8 | 11 July | Périgueux – Bergerac | 180.4km |
| 9 | 12 July | Malemort – Ussel | 185.5km |
| Rest day | 13 July | Cantal | — |
| 10 | 14 July | Aurillac – Le Lioran | 166.6km |
| 11 | 15 July | Vichy – Nevers | 161.3km |
| 12 | 16 July | Circuit Nevers Magny-Cours – Chalon-sur-Saône | 179.1km |
| 13 | 17 July | Dole – Belfort | 205.8km |
| 14 | 18 July | Mulhouse – Le Markstein Fellering | 155.3km |
| 15 | 19 July | Champagnole – Plateau de Solaison | 183.9km |
| Rest day | 20 July | Haute-Savoie | — |
| 16 (ITT) | 21 July | Évian-les-Bains – Thonon-les-Bains | 26.1km |
| 17 | 22 July | Chambéry – Voiron | 174.7km |
| 18 | 23 July | Voiron – Orcières-Merlette | 185.2km |
| 19 | 24 July | Gap – Alpe d'Huez | 127.9km |
| 20 | 25 July | Le Bourg d'Oisans – Alpe d'Huez | 170.9km |
| 21 | 26 July | Thoiry – Paris Champs-Élysées | 133km |
In total, the 2026 route covers 3,333km across 21 stages, with eight mountain stages, five summit finishes, seven flat stages, four hilly days, one individual time trial and the opening team time trial in Barcelona.
