Tour de France Stage Report: Stage 17 was a race on two fronts. The break (eventually) took an 8 minute lead and it was Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla) who fought it out for the stage honours. The Ecuadorian attacked with 13 kilometres to go of the final climb for stage victory. Yates was second and Enric Mas (Movistar) third. Overall leader, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) jumped away from the GC group and was joined by Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step). But the Young Belgian dropped them to take some time back.
Richard Carapaz won the seventeenth stage finishing in Superdévoluy. The Ecuadorian EF Education-EasyPost leader was the best of a large escape group. The GC favourites also attacked each other in the finale. Remco Evenepoel took some time on the overall and Tadej Pogačar also added to his gap over Jonas Vingegaard.
Stage win for Olympic champion Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost)
Christian Prudhomme, Tour de France general director: “As the race homes in on the southern Alps, there will be no significant obstacles crossing the Drôme. The tests beyond that, though, are likely to encourage the formation of a large breakaway group, whose members will have a chance to shine, assuming they can deal with the climbs in the final 40 kilometres. We’ll get a clearer idea of this on the ascent of the Col Bayard, although the final selection should be made on the Col du Noyer (7.5km at 8.4%), with the final decision coming on the approach to the Superdévoluy ski station.”
Stage 17 profile
The stage starts with a run-up of 130 kilometres that climbs 800 metres. The stage then passes the start ton of stage 18, Gap, but today this is when the action will get going. After a short descent, there are three monsters to climb in the last 40 kilometres. The Col Bayard (6.8km at 7.3%) should sort out who is going to be in the front group. Next is the Col du Noyer (7.5km at 8.4%), which is the longest and steepest climb of the day. Whom so ever is left either in a break or with the GC favourites will have to have their best climbing legs. The summit finish on the Côte de Superdévoluy (3.9km at 5.9%) could decide the Tour. This tough new climb has a final 4 kilometres at an average gradient of 5.9%.
Stage 17 could be decisive – What can Jonas Vingegaard do?
Without a final stage on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, there wasn’t much reason for the sprinters to be at the start of stage 17. Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious), second on stage 16 behind Jasper Philipsen, didn’t start and Movistar’s Fernando Gaviria (now focusing on the Olympic Games) and Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R) abandoned.
It was all go from the gun
Many riders were able to handle the slightly uphill start, and many teams were interested in having a man in the early break of the day. The gc teams were also nervous, because there was a crosswind. Visma | Lease a Bike and Soudal Quick-Step, for leaders Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel, as well as the yellow jersey, Tadej Pogacar, were attentive, although Pogačar had no teammates with him. The peloton split into a few parts, but since all the big names were there, peace was restored.
Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Yves Lampaert and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Jonas Vingegaard and Christophe Laporte (Visma | Lease a Bike) were all in the action
Dropped riders Steff Cras (TotalEnergies) and Laurens De Plus (INEOS Grenadiers) were able to come back to the peloton. Only Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan) would never see the race again and shortly afterwards abandoned with knee pain, visibly upset. We were still waiting for the first attack of the day. This came from Sébastien Grignard (Lotto Dstny) and Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers), but it was only when Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) joined in that we saw the first gap.
Wout van Aert wanted in on the fun
Van Aert and three others got away for a few kilometres, but they had no luck. Attempts by Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Kevin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Van Aert again, were also unsuccessful. The first 60 kilometres were attack after attack, but because so many teams were interested in the early break, all moves neutralised each other. From solo attempts to big groups, no one could get away.
A battered and bruised Biniam Girmay was hanging in there
Tiesj Benoot (Visma | Lease a Bike) eventually set up a break, 60 kilometres into the stage. Benoot was joined by Bob Jungels (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) and Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility). The four worked well together and soon had 20 seconds. The peloton didn’t just give up and a chasing group of about 30 riders formed behind the break.
And beat Philipsen for some points
The Top-· on GC; Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel, had managed to get into the chase group. It didn’t look like they really wanted to be there. Most of the riders who had any GC hopes, except for Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) were there. EF Education-EasyPost had two big favourites for the stage victory: Ben Healy and Richard Carapaz, pulled the group back.
Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility), Bob Jungels (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Tiesj Benoot (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) managed to get away
The Benoot group continued to race away at the front, taking a 1 minute lead. The biggest lead in this stage so far, but the peloton wasn’t finished. AT the intermediate sprint, Biniam Girmay and Jasper Philipsen were able to collect points. Leader, Biniam Girmay was faster than Philipsen in a duel for fifth place and added to his point lead.
The favourites ‘peloton’ had shrunk
After the intermediate sprint there was a split in the peloton. Richard Carapaz was launched by his EF Education-EasyPost teammates and everyone who was interested was allowed to go. A chasing group of 48 riders was created. Groupama-FDJ (5 riders), Jayco Alula and Lidl-Trek (4 riders) and dsm-firmenich-PostNL (three) were best represented. Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte were there for Visma and Marc Soler and Pavel Sivakov for UAE. There was also Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla), Laurens De Plus and Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Enric Mas (Movistar) and three from dsm; Warren Barguil, Romain Bardet and Oscar Onley. also Steff Cras (TotalEnergies), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Dsty) and Jasper Stuyven were present. In the peloton no one was interested and the gap grew.
Carapaz was on his way to the front
They first had to catch the four leaders, and that turned out to be no easy feat. Only when the road started to get a bit harder could the gap of about 1:30 on Benoot, Jungels, Cort and Grégoire be reduced. Initially, Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) used the Col Bayard as a springboard to make the leap forward. The chase group completely split in those first climbing kilometres, but the strongest climbers in the group were holding back. The difference was the same on the Col du Noyer, the longest and most difficult climb of the day where everyone expected action. It was also there that Simon Yates started attacking. The British rider surprised the others and jumped to the six leaders. As soon as Yates made the connection, he immediately dropped them. Although it was still about 7 kilometres to go to the top of the climb.
Carapaz dropped Yates
Ten seconds later, Olympic champion Richard Carapaz went after Yates. Carapaz had the Brit constantly in his sights, with Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) behind him. The Ecuadorian didn’t ask for help, only to drop Williams soon after. It took a lot of effort, but Carapaz finally joined Yates about 3 kilometres from the top. Carapaz then took the lead and put Yates under pressure. The Vuelta winner persisted, but when Carapaz pressed extra hard on the pedals 1.5 kilometres from the top, Yates was gone. At the top the difference was about 12 seconds, and on the descent to the final climb of the Côte de Superdévoluy, the Olympic champion added to his lead. It was clear that the Ecuadorian was the strongest of the day and he was awarded for his attacking spirit.
There was no stopping Carapaz
About 8 minutes later, the favourites for the GC also had to tackle the finale. At first, Giulio Ciccone’s men tried to surprise everyone, but Joao Almeida quickly put things in order for his leader, Tadej Pogačar, who then attacked a kilometre from the top. Jonas Vingegaard was in trouble, but Remco Evenepoel did try to follow. Evenepoel eventually had to let Pogačar go, but on the descent Vingegaard could count on Christophe Laporte, who had dropped back from the break. Laporte first brought back Evenepoel and later Pogačar, so it was all a waste of time between the GC riders. But it was Remco Evenepoel who wanted more. On the final climb, the white jersey surprised his competitors with an attack. Pogačar waited, so Vingegaard and teammate Van Aert had to chase.
Vingegaard looked in trouble
In the end, the yellow jersey also jumped away from behind Vingegaard, but the differences remained relatively small. Evenepoel did take 10 seconds back on the yellow jersey. Vingegaard followed 2 seconds later and is still in second place on GC.
A hard fought for win for Carapaz
Stage winner, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost): “This victory means everything! I’ve been trying to get it since the start of the Tour, that was the goal. In the general classification we are very far away, but the hope remained of winning a stage. It was a very difficult day, with a lot of attacks, but in the end, a large group formed, I was able to come out at the right time and I managed to get this result which I will remember forever. I really made the most of the moment. I knew the final well having studied it with my sports director. I had won stages in the Giro and the Vuelta but the Tour de France is the race with all the best riders in the world. Each team comes with its best set-up and its best squad. The Tour is the best race. I am also happy for all the people who follow me. I’m proud to be here and represent all of America in the best possible way.”
Evenepoel took a few seconds back on the top 2
Overall leader, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “It’s one less day to go, and it has been a very good one indeed. It was a very fast stage – and it felt like a junior race for 120km! It turned out to be a very hard day, one of those on which you spend a lot of energy. Visma-Lease a Bike did a great race today, as they were very aggressive. I don’t know exactly if they wanted to trouble me, or stress us. Sometimes I don’t know the reason why I attack – even me, I don’t know anymore! I guess I was just enjoying the climb, as it was steep and super nice, and I felt like attacking to test my legs into this third week and see if I could get a gap or something. In the end, it was Remco who put in a super good attack and broke away. Without the Visma guys, he would have put even more time on Jonas and me.”
Pogačar lost a few seconds to Evenepoel, but gained some on vingegaard
Tour de France Stage 17 Result:
1. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost in 4:06:13
2. Simon Yates (GB) Jayco AlUla at 0:37
3. Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar at 0:57
4. Laurens De Plus (Bel) INEOS Grenadiers at 1:44
5. Oscar Onley (GB) dsm-firmenich-PostNL
6. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis at 2:36
7. Magnus Cort Nielsen /Den) Uno-X Mobility at 2:38
8. Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain Victorious at 2:39
9. Jordan Jegat (Fra) TotalEnergies
10. Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Movistar.
Tour de France Overall After Stage 17:
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 70:21:27
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma | Lease a Bike at 3:11
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step at 5:09
4. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates at 12:57
5. Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Soudal Quick-Step at 13:24
6. Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers at 13:30
7. Adam Yates (GB) UAE Team Emirates at 15:41
8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek at 17:51
9. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech at 18:15
10. Santiago Buitrago Sanchez (Col) Bahrain Victorious at 18:35.
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