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Climbing Alone TdF26-134
"And Winning Alone" is what I wish I had added to the title, but I wasn't sure that would be the outcome when I painted this. With just over a kilometer left to climb of the Orcieres-Merlette and the stage, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) had thirty-five seconds over the two that were still chasing behind. Mauro Schmid (Jayco-Alula) finished second on the stage, for the second stage in a row. He was followed over the line at the same time by Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) leaving both him and his team looking for their first road stage win. Remember that Visma won the opening team time trial, so quite literally, the team has already won a stage in the 113th Tour de France. Carapaz went on to win the stage by forty-five seconds. He also moved himself into the top ten of the general classification, but is still over twenty minutes behind the time of the leader, Tadej Pogacar. He is still trying to take the Maillot a Pois and he now sits third in that competition. All in all a good day out for the former Ecuadorian champion.