RICHARD CARAPAZ broke away to his second career Tour de France stage win yesterday as Tadej Pogacar stayed safe in yellow three days from Paris. “It’s been a special day,” said Carapaz, whose previous Tour win also came from a breakaway on stage 17 in 2024. “We tried [to win from breakaways] several times and it was impossible to reach, but today it was. Valentin Paret-Peintre, Schmid and Jorgenson shut that down quickly enough but had no response when Carapaz attacked again. After several attempts in breakaways already in this Tour, it was a 25th professional win for Carapaz, but his first since stage 11 of last year’s Giro d’Italia.