Mauro Schmid continued to show is superb versatility at the Tour de France with a second consecutive second-place finish on stage 18.
Already a winner at the race after his phenomenal victory during the second week, the Team Jayco AlUla rider sprinted to second place yesterday in a chaotic stage 17. Today’s ride to Orcières-Merlette featured a lot more mountains, but Schmid was at the front again and climbed to the runner-up spot behind Richard Carapaz on the first category ascent.
With chances for success dwindling fast as the finale in Paris looms close, there was plenty of action in the fight for position in the breakaway. German champion Felix Engelhardt, who was also in Wednesday’s escape, got himself into a six-man move after 60 kilometres of racing.
As the six forged on, the battle behind to jump clear of the peloton continued, and Schmid found himself in a group of nine riders trying to bridge the gap. The pace was fast, but the chase finally succeeded on the second climb of the day, the Côte de Monteynard.
Having put in a big effort to support Schmid, Engelhardt was distanced by the lead group inside the final 50km. The breakaway had just six riders left as they hit the slopes of the final climb with Schmid looking comfortable within it.
The Swiss rider was able to follow when Carapaz made his first attack, but the second acceleration from the Ecuadorian proved just too much. Nevertheless, Schmid paced himself up the climb with Matteo Jorgenson and beat the American in the sprint for the line to take second.
Mauro Schmid
“Today, I’m happier than yesterday because there’s no shame in getting dropped by Carapaz on a climb like this. He was clearly the strongest in this group and I was just super happy to be in the breakaway and make it across. Having Felix there was really good because he brought me in a really good situation and gave me a little bit of a head start, so it was really good.
It was a big fight to get into the breakaway, as expected, on the first climb and then over the top I thought it was pretty much done. We were quite happy to have Felix there but then after the downhill I found myself on the front. First with Ben Healy and then Mathias Vacek and some other guys, who were just sitting on. We thought maybe it wasn’t such a bad situation. Then we came across and it was pretty nice.”
Tour de France stage 18 results
1. Richard Carapaz 04:26:21
2. Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla) +45
3. Matteo Jorgenson +45
Photo: Sprint Cycling
