Tour de France stage 18 returns to Orcières-Merlette, and for Tadej Pogačar it is a finish that carries a clear reminder of unfinished business. The ski resort in the southern French Alps is not the most famous name on the route, but it is the place where Primož Roglič beat Pogačar on stage four in 2020, before Pogačar turned the race around two-and-a-half weeks later and won The Tour on the penultimate day's time trial at Planche de Belles Filles.
This year’s stage 18 is a 185.3km day that ends with a climb of 11.5km at 5.4%, rising to 854 metres. After yesterday’s Jasper Philipsen win in Voiron, the race heads back into the mountains with another stage that could shape the closing days of the Tour de France. It is not a summit finish with the same reputation as Mont Ventoux, Alpe d'Huez or the Col du Galibier, but it still gives the favourites a proper test.
A familiar climb, a different race
Orcières-Merlette has a simple historical hook: the last time the Tour de France finished there, in 2020, Pogačar was second behind Roglič. That memory matters because stage 18 arrives deep into the race, when fatigue is already in the legs and every climb feels harder than it looks on paper. For Pogačar, it is a chance to show how far he has come since that Covid-era defeat on stage four.
The route also contains an intermediate sprint and a number of climbs that could affect the green jersey classification, so this is not only about the general classification battle. There is room for the fast men early on, but the final climb to Orcières-Merlette is where the day should be decided. That makes the stage interesting for more than one reason: it is a mountain test, a tactical day, and a reminder that some finishes in The Tour carry their own history.
What Pogačar is chasing
Pogačar does not need revenge to prove himself, of course. He already answered the challenge in 2020 by winning the Tour days later at Planche de Belles Filles. But stage 18 gives him another opportunity at the same finish line, and that is why Orcières-Merlette matters. In a race as long and punishing as the Tour de France, the story is often written in these small moments of recall: the place where a rider once lost, and the place where he later returned with the yellow jersey within reach.
That is the appeal of this stage. It is not just another mountain day in the French Alps. It is a summit finish with context, a climb with a memory attached, and a route that asks whether the strongest rider can turn a familiar location into a new statement.
