Key events
52km to go: The road is lined with camper vans and hundreds, indeed thousands, of fans waiting for a glimpse of the world’s biggest bike race. A family of fans hold up a cardboard sign with the colours of the Belgian flag and emblazoned with one word in the middle: WOUT. And there is a man on a horse!
54km to go: The Col de Tartaiguille is coming up. It’s 3.6km long, at 3.5%. The gap between break and peloton is 1min 14sec.
55km to go: Quentin Pacher (Groupama–FDJ) is the man currently driving the breakaway. These four riders will enjoy their dinner tonight, given the amount of calories they are going to burn in this presumably doomed effort to contest the stage win in Valence.
56km to go: Milan, in the green jersey, is now riding fifth wheel in the main bunch, with a couple of teammates for company. The gap is 1min 14sec.
60km to go: By the way, Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) packed it in before today’s stage. See the official abandonments page here.
64km to go: The gap has climbed to 1min 05sec. Rowe, who is now talking about Remco Evenepoel and how his withdrawal has allowed his remaining Soudal–Quick-Step teammates some freedom, said a while ago that the four-man break is giving today’s race a some stability and preventing other teams from attacking. Certainly true, but the kilometres are still ticking by quickly. Wellens and Raúl García are safely back in the main bunch.
70km to go: Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) has dropped off the back of the peloton, for some reason, presumably a mechanical. Raúl García (Arkea B&B Hotels) is even further back, probably for the same reason.
72km to go: Full gas? Perhaps not. The break’s advantage has swelled to 45sec again and it’s calming down in the peloton now they are all back together.
74km to go: The gap is 32sec.
“If you’re a sprint team it’s just a bit tougher than you would have wanted,” says White of a race that calmed down for a while earlier but is now full-gas again.
78km to go: Helped by the downhill terrain, no doubt, Milan and co are now back in the main bunch. So there are two groups on the road – the peloton with 160 riders, and the break with four.
“I think that was a missed opportunity for a few teams to really put the heat on Lidl-Trek and Alpecin,” says Matt White on commentary.
79km to go: All the various groups are now on a long downhill drag heading for the second climb of the day, that will come in about 30km. Alpecin-Deceuninck have turned it up at the front of the peloton, and it seems Tudor Pro Cycling are among those joining in. The four-man break is riding full-gas up front to try and stay clear but they only have 25sec now. This is all up for grabs, in a number of ways.
82km to go: Milan, says Carlton Kirby on commentary, is back in the main bunch. But Luke Rowe isn’t so sure, and indeed, the on-screen graphics soon update to show that the Italian sprinter is still 1min 10sec down. Tim Merlier is also in that group. “The two fastest guys in the race are off the back,” says Rowe. “This is your golden ticket, boys.”
89km to go: Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) is on the front of the bunch. It’s a tricky moment for the Lidl-Trek management, with the points classification leader Milan still 90sec or so down … Matt White says Simmons, rather than trying to hunt down the break, is attempting to slow it all down and let Milan get back in touch.
“He is just making that tempo high enough that people don’t start attacking, but also slow enough that his teammates can come back from behind,” says Rowe of the job Simmons is doing at the front of the peloton.
91km to go: Cofidis and Movistar are both up front, trying to animate the race, indeed trying to bring this all back together and give themselves a chance of a stage win. Milan is 1min 25sec down which is worrying, to say the least, for his green jersey hopes.
92km to go: The break’s advantage is 34sec. Back down the road, Milan is isolated as he tries to get back in touch with the peloton.
93km to go: Note: the approach to the finish today is highly technical, with a number of roundabouts to be negotiated by the peloton as they (presumably) attempt to set up the sprint.
Romeo of Movistar, who attacked earlier trying to get in the break, has clipped off the front again, apparently trying to join forces with the break. Meanwhile, back down the road, Milan has been dropped by this injection of pace by Ineos! It’s all kicking off in one way or another.
95km to go: The gap is down to 50sec. And falling. Ineos aren’t the only team working at the front, to say the least, and it looks like it’s all going to come back together before long. Which would make it all fast and furious again, surely?
98km to go: “We’re deep into the third week … there are a lot of fatigued bodies out there,” says Rowe. “You’ve got to stay focused, stay concentrated: it’s just staying focused the whole day. A lot more teams would have wanted to be in the break, but the roads early in the stage really suited the sprinters’ teams today.”
Ineos Grenadiers have taken it up at the front of the bunch, suddenly. The gap between break and peloton has dropped sharply to 1min 38 sec. The escapees are on the first categorised climb of the day, the Col du Pertuis.
100km to go: A century still to race. Luke Rowe is stepping into the TNT Sports commentary box now, and while things are relatively serene, why not read this reader interview we did last month? Some interesting stuff in there:
101km to go: Lidl-Trek continue to work on the front of the peloton. On commentary Matt White observes that Visma-Lease A Bike have clearly not given up the fight in GC, and will continue to attack Tadej Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates on the road to Paris. “It’s going to make for some great racing,” he says.
104km to go: The gap between break and peloton is 1min 53sec. The average speed today is a (relatively) leisurely 42.5km/h, so not nearly as fast and furious as it might have been … Abrahamsen does a turn on the front, then drops back and lets Albanese take it up at the front. It’s a team time trial for these escapees at the moment.
110km to go: The Col du Pertuis is the next milestone on the route. The category-four climb comes with 94.2km still to race.
Abrahamsen wins the intermediate sprint
Jonas Abrahamsen outsprints Mathieu Burgaudeau in a two-man race for the intermediate at Roche-Saint-Secret-Béconne. Albanese is third.
In the bunch behind, Milan mops up 11pts for the best of the rest. That puts him 22pts clear in the points classification.
113km to go: Quentin Pacher is the highest in GC of the four-man break. He is 96th, a mere 1hr 45min down on the race leader Tadej Pogacar.
115km to go: The gap between break and peloton has fallen to exactly 2min. Under 3km until the intermediate sprint now.
118km to go: Alpecin–Deceuninck and Lidl-Trek are working to control the gap to the break, as you would expect, in view of their designs on a stage win later. The town of Taulignan, in the Drôme, looks exquisite from the TV helicopter. Kelly opines that living there would be “very, very lonely”.
120km to go: “The sprinters will not be happy with that one,” Sean Kelly says of the parcours in Paris on Sunday, that includes three category-four climbs in the closing kilometres (three times up the Butte Montmarte to Sacré-Cœur). “I don’t think a sprinter can win. It will be difficult for them to get back in and contest the sprint.”
123km to go: The gap is 2min 24sec. It’s now 10km until the intermediate sprint. The south of France is looking pleasingly verdant and the riders in the bunch are grabbing something to eat from team staff at the roadside.
126km to go: Under 15km until the day’s intermediate sprint.
128km to go: There’s a stunning shot of La tour de Chamaret while commentators, pundits and Adam Blythe, out on the motorbike, attempt to negotiate a delay on their audio feed while discussing this and that, including Blythe’s underwear.
131km to go: The race rolls past a picturesque church at Montségur-sur-Lauzon. Adam Blythe mentions that it’s raining at the finish in Valence, but is forecast to dry up later.
134km to go: “When you win quite a few, you kind of forget where they all are,” says Sean Kelly on commentary, having been reminded of a stage success in this vicinity during his career.
136km to go: Laurence has given up, and will soon be swept up by the main bunch. No stage win for Ineos Grenadiers today (and almost certainly no stage win for any of these four teams in the break, either, in truth.) Quinn Simmons (Lidl–Trek) is the rider driving the pace on the front of the peloton.
139km to go: Then it will be a question, for the sprinters’ teams, of ensuring the break is caught in good time for a sprint in Valence. It’s tempting to say it’s a strong group out front, but then again, is there any such thing as a weak group when it comes to Tour de France breakaways?
142km to go: The intermediate sprint arrives after 47.9km at Roche-Saint-Secret-Béconne. So it looks very much like the sprinters will be racing either for fifth place (11pts), or fourth place (13pts), if Laurance admits defeat in his brave attempt to bridge to the four-man breakaway.
146km to go: Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education–EasyPost), Quentin Pacher (Groupama–FDJ), Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) are the riders up front. They have 2min 40sec now.
148km to go: Jonas Abrahamsen, you will remember, won stage 11:
The gap between break and peloton has now flown out to 2min 32sec. Laurance is still trying to get across but is more than 90sec down.
152km to go: It’s 1min 06 sec for the break now. Laurance (Ineos) is still trying to get across, about 18sec down. There is no consensus behind, it seems, between teams that want to get involved in the break and those who want to shut things down and let them go.
155km to go: A four-rider break has gone up the road: Vincenzo Albanese, Quentin Pacher, Mathieu Burgaudeau and Jonas Abrahamsen. They have nearly a minute already. The peloton has almost ground to a halt behind, so safe to say the sprinters’ teams are generally happy with this break.
Axel Laurance (Ineos) is trying to bridge across. But hang on, now it’s kicked off again in the bunch behind …
“Riders are tired,” says Sean Kelly on commentary. “No one wants to make too much effort in the earlier part.”
It’s a winding start on narrow roads and it looks very much like certain teams are up at the front trying to shut this down.
158km to go: The attacks keep coming. Nothing has settled yet. The front of the peloton is strung out.
159km to go: Iván Romeo (Movistar) has attacked. He fancies a day in the break. How many riders will be allowed to escape? Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) is also up there.
Stage 17 has begun
Christian Prudhomme waves his flag from the team car, and we’re off.
“The majority of teams think it’s going to be a sprint,” says Adam Blythe on the TNT Sports motorbike of prospects for today. “But there’s a lot of pressure on the French teams, and a lot of teams without much success …”
The race is on!
Rowe, on pundit duty, was just saying the sprinters’ team should lock this down by combining to ensure it’s a small and manageable breakaway.
“Maybe he could have taken the stage or maybe not,” writes Gary Naylor, “but Pog being satisfied to mark Visma produced a great result for France, a great result for two of the race’s four jerseys and might find him an ally if he needs one on Friday.”
James emails: “In relation to the comment on why Pogacar didn’t go for the win on the stage, in the interview included in the ITV4 highlights, he said that he liked the winner (he talked about him as a true climber), and gave the impression that he allowed him to win. Maybe this was a bluff (and possibly also a little arrogant), but that was certainly the impression he gave in his interview.”
“We are really looking forward,” Milan said before today’s stage. “It’s one of the most important, yes [in the points classification].
Matt White, Luke Rowe and Robbie McEwen are the pundits working with the presenter Orla Chennaoui on TNT Sports.
“It’s a difficult one,” says Rowe of Lidl-Trek’s attempts to go for the intermediate and the stage win for the current points classification leader, Jonathan Milan.
“Hopefully the breakaway is small and they can win the sprint from behind, with points still available, but he (Milan) needs to win the stage today. That is clear.”
William Fotheringham mentioned the Club des Cinglés du Ventoux in his excellent piece a few days ago …
So I may as well tell you for the 10th time that I joined that particular club back in 2016. Mont Ventoux is a beautiful place to ride a bike, and happily, you don’t have to complete the three different ascents at anything but your own pace.
“Yesterday and on Superbangers (pardon my atrocious French spelling) Tadej Pogacar was favoured to win the stage,” writes Mark from Florida. “But he didn’t even try to – why? Is he afraid of being too tired on later stages? Is he afraid of blowing up on a climb and losing the tour? Is he afraid of being considered greedy?”
As far as I could see yesterday, it just so happened that the breakaway was a bit too far ahead. Pogacar had the legs to accelerate away from Vingegaard in the final metres, so safe to say he would have won the stage had they caught the break. But in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter for him, yesterday was about protecting the GC lead first and foremost. I don’t think Pogacar is shy of going for as many stage wins as possible, either.
As if by magic, an electronic mail message drops into my inbox.
“Not sure anything could rival yesterday TBH,” writes Jem. “A day of proper racing, great win for Paret-Peintre, so close for Ben Healey and masterful from Pogi – fair play to Vingegaard as well for having a go.
“For today, at least I don’t have to feel embarrassed by watching blokes go up a mountain at similar speeds to those I plod round reasonably flat country lanes at. Instead, I just have to watch blokes going along reasonably flat French country lanes at speeds I rarely reach even going downhill!
“Really enjoying this year’s race – a win for Bini would do me today so fingers crossed for him.”
You can send me your opinions, thoughts, predictions and the like on email. Don’t be shy.
Yesterday, of course, was a dust-up between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard on the punishing slopes of Mont Ventoux. I didn’t see the full stage, just the highlights, but I don’t believe Pogacar was ever in serious trouble, despite Visma-Lease A Bike throwing the kitchen sink at him and his team. Read Jeremy Whittle’s report right here:
The official Tour de France withdrawals page is a handy resource. Mathieu van der Poel abandoned yesterday due to pneumonia, just in case you missed it.
William Fotheringham
William Fotheringham’s pre-race assessment of today’s route:
Stage 17, Wednesday 23 July: Bollène to Valence, 161km
Potentially a bunch sprint, the last of the Tour, but teams with a sprinter who can climb – think Intermarché with Girmay for example – will try and burn off the slightly heavier brethren such as Merlier on the drag to the Col de Pertuis after 66km, particularly if the green jersey is in play; here’s a chance to gain valuable points. It will all hang on wind direction, morale and the peloton’s dwindling reserves of strength.
Preamble
Welcome to Wednesday’s Tour de France entertainment, AKA Fast and Furious Part 17. At 161km this is the third-shortest stage of the final week, and the lack of significant climbing will see the sprinters’ teams attempting to set things up for a bunch kick in Valence. Unusually Sunday’s stage in Paris looks highly unlikely to finish in a sprint, due to three late ascents of the Butte Montmartre, so the points classification contenders will go all-in today for what should be their last chance of a stage win.
So it promises to be another insanely fast day, with plenty of interested parties as the peloton heads north, out of the Rhône Valley, through the Drôme and in the general direction of Lyon. There are two category-four climbs: the Col du Pertuis, after 66.3km, and the Col de Tartaiguille, coming after 117km of racing. The day’s intermediate sprint arrives after 47.9km, at Roche-Saint-Secret-Béconne, guaranteeing a flat-out start, continuing on to a flat-out middle and finish.
The fastest projected time schedule has the peloton roaring into Valence to wrap things up at 17.10 local time (16.10 UK) – it would be no surprise to see another full-on day finish before that.
Stage stage time: 13.50 CET / 12.50 BST
