Tour de France - Stage 18 Predictions & Betting tips - International

Prediction published on 22/07/2026, 14:46  by Matthew Newman | Modified on 23/07/2026 at 14:03

Just four stages are left in the 2026 Tour de France, three of them in the mountains before the usual sprint stage into Paris. This is the easiest of the three with Alpe d’Huez awaiting on both the other days, so this could be a breakaway day which plays into the hands of Richard Carapaz.

As always with a stage that looks breakaway material, trying to guess who makes the effort is task number one. Carapaz has twice finished top 10 in a stage on this tour, riding for a team who love to attack. One of those was in a break and this looks like his sort of time.

Yannis Voisard has crept into the top 10 overall but he is 24 minutes back of the leader and 10 minutes behind ninth, so nobody will worry if he attacks. That can make him an interesting one as he is clearly in good heart. 

There have been four top 10 finishes in a stage so far for Tobias Halland Johannessen, including two when in a breakaway, finishing second in one of them. A powerful rider, he was sixth overall last year.

We have seen little of Thymen Arensman this tour which is disappointing as he won two stages from breaks in 2025. He got stronger as the race went on in 2025, and might just be ready to make his presence felt again.