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ORCIERES-MERLETTE, France -- Ecuadorian rider Richard Carapaz timed his attack perfectly in the final climb to win the 18th stage of the Tour de France on Thursday, while Tadej Pogacar finished a few minutes behind and maintained his significant overall lead.
It was the 33-year-old Carapaz's first stage win at this year's race and second overall. He was not chased down by Pogacar because he is not considered a threat to win the Tour, and is in 10th spot.
"This is a wonderful victory," Carapaz said. "I dedicate it to my family."
After moving ahead about 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the summit, Carapaz raced clear. He patted each side of his head as he approached the finish line, and was 45 seconds ahead of Swiss rider Mauro Schmid and American Matteo Jorgenson.
"It's been a special day. It took a lot of hard work," said Carapaz, who failed to win with a similar breakaway earlier in this year's race. "This is the most rewarding thing for me, knowing that the work I put in has paid off."
Pogacar is chasing a third straight Tour title and fifth overall. The Slovenian star rolled over the line in a large group containing his closest rival Remco Evenepoel and Pogacar's UAE Emirates XRG teammate Isaac Del Toro.
There was no change overall as Pogacar maintained his lead of 4 minutes, 32 seconds over the Belgian time trial star Evenepoel, the winner of two stages at this year's race, and 6:51 over the 22-year-old Mexican Del Toro in third overall.
Thursday's stage was the first of three straight days of Alpine climbs.
The 185-kilometer (115-mile) trek featured an early Category 1 climb -- the second-hardest category -- up Côte d'Engins, before ending with a Cat. 1 ascent to the Orcieres-Merlette ski station.
After going over Engins, Jorgenson was in a small group at the front. They were then joined by Carapaz with Pogacar's yellow jersey group clearly hanging back.