Key events
125km to go: Over the top of the Col des Près, just over 1,000m above sea level, and both breakaway groups have been slowly reeled in. There is now a split in the peloton, with a tiring Pedersen among those at risk of being left behind.
Halfway up the Col des Près, the margins are still fine – the chasers are about 50 metres behind the leading group, with the peloton a similar distance behind.
127km to go: The Alpecin team are pulling at the front of the peloton, trying to keep the breakaway in range. Others sense the moment is now, and try to bridge the gap – including green jersey wearer Mads Pedersen.
128km to go: We move on to the Col des Prés, a 3.5km, 6.8% climb. The leading group now numbers 22 riders, and has a 22-second advantage, which is convenient.
Fred Wright has made it back to the peloton. Callum Bowler reminds me that Wright is the current British road race champion. “His jersey is Fred Wright and blue” honks Callum.
132km to go: A group of around 20 riders have formed a breakaway – but will need to work together to make it stick. Egan Bernal, Mathieu van der Poel, Jasper Stuyven and Matej Mohoric are among the names involved.
135km to go: There is about 10km to go until we reach the day’s biggest climb – the cat 3 Col des Prés – and the highest point of today’s stage. Surely if a breakaway is going to stick, it needs to happen soon.
138km to go: The latest breakaway, which was also joined by Ben Healy, didn’t build any momentum and is swallowed up at the summit of Côte de Rossillon, a climb that barely stood out from the rest of this long uphill slog to start the stage. Richard Carapaz claims the solitary King o’ the Mountains point.
140km to go: Switzerland’s Marc Hirschi has a puncture and needs a new bike; Pidcock is back in the pack but Fred Wright still has a gap to close.
142km to go: Approaching the day’s second Category 4 climb, three new contenders have made a move – Tejada, Izagirre and Walker – but are still being kept well within range.
Another early crash, with Britain’s Tom Pidcock and Fred Wright among the riders to go down. Both appear OK to continue, and are working to rejoin the peloton.
152km to go: No real drop-off after the summit, with the road still climbing gently. Veistroffer, part of the early breakaway, is now lagging behind the pack.
155km to go: Approaching the top of the first climb, Vauqelin is absorbed by the pack again. Valentin Paret-Peintre in the polka-dot jersey takes the single KOM point – he’s still 26 behind Pogacar in the standings.
156km to go: Abrahamsen has been joined by a group of keen chasers, a hair’s breadth ahead of the peloton. Someone has to try and make a move, and Kévin Vauqelin (Ineos) is first to go. “We’re all in today,” Ineos sport director Daryl Impey tells him over the radio.
158km to go: The route is heading east now, leaving behind the regular Tour stop of Aix-les-Bains and winding towards the Bauges mountains. Those two stragglers have caught up, and now Abrahamsen is out in front alone.
162km to go: Astana rider Davide Ballerini has suffered a crash and is working to catch up. Ahead of him, Florian Vermeersch (Emirates) is making up ground after a puncture.
The peloton is passing Lac du Bourget, which looks an absolutely lovely place to spend a Wednesday afternoon. The route will then loop to cover all four climbs before passing back through Chambéry.
“Where’s Thomas De Gendt when you need him?” asks Jem Lee of today’s breakaway potential. Indeed, it’s a stage that will have your Voigts, Voecklers and Chavanels watching on wistfully.
171km to go: Two men have made an early move – Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X) and Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto) – but they’re struggling to carve out much more than a 10-second gap so far.
Stage 17 is under way! The riders are making their way out of Chambery towards the day’s first climb, the category four Côte de Bassa.
The row over late-night doping tests rumbles on at this year’s Tour, after Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar were visited at 2am and 5am respectively on Sunday. Vingegaard crashed out on the next stage, with Pogacar calling the test times “inhuman”.
All of the remaining riders on the Tour underwent an anti-doping blood test on Monday’s rest day, the International Testing Agency (ITA) have confirmed. All of the tests were carried out during the usual 6am-11pm window, per reports.
Here are the current leaders in the other jersey battles …
🟢 Points
1) Mads Pedersen 🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek 417pts
2) Jasper Philipsen 🇧🇪 Alpecin-Premier 386pts
3) Biniam Girmay 🇪🇷 NSN Cycling 361pts
🔴 King of the Mountains
1) Tadej Pogacar 🇸🇮 UAE Team Emirates 70pts
2) Valentin Paret-Peintre 🇫🇷 Soudal Quick-Step 45pts
3) Richard Carapaz 🇪🇨 EF Education-Easypost 39pts
⚪️ Youth
1) Isaac del Toro 🇲🇽 UAE Team Emirates 56h 21m 9s
2) Paul Seixas 🇫🇷 Decathlon CMA CGM +20s
3) Juan Ayuso 🇪🇸 Lidl-Trek +2m 31s
General classification
1) Tadej Pogacar 🇸🇮 UAE Team Emirates 56h 14m 18s
2) Remco Evenepoel 🇧🇪 Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe +4m 32s
3) Isaac del Toro 🇲🇽 UAE Team Emirates +6m 51s
4) Paul Seixas 🇫🇷 Decathlon CMA CGM +7m 11s
5) Juan Ayuso 🇪🇸 Lidl-Trek +9m 22s
6) Mattias Skjelmose 🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek +10m 14s
7) Lenny Martinez 🇫🇷 Bahrain Victorious +12m 50s
8) Tom Pidcock 🇬🇧 Pinarello-Q36.5 +12m 58s
9) Jordan Jegat 🇫🇷 TotalEnergies +22m 50s
10) Yannis Voisard 🇨🇭Tudor Pro Cycling +24m 18s
Stage 17 guide
William Fotheringham
Nominally the final sprinters’ stage of the race, but the first 50km is basically uphill through the Chartreuse, plus this is a rare opportunity for non-climbing breakaway specialists.
Expect a very intense first hour, when the sprinters will be under pressure, plus by this point their domestiques will be fatigued and possibly low on numbers, making the stage a nightmare to control.
If the grosses cuisses get to the finish, they have to get over a nasty little pull (2.6km at 4%) with 5km to go. It all points to Biniam Girmay or perhaps the Australian Michael Matthews.
Preamble
Sandwiched between Tuesday’s time trial around Lake Geneva and the final Alpine climbs of this year’s Tour, this stop-gap stage offers a chance for the breakaway specialists to make their mark. Tadej Pogacar and his theoretical rivals for the yellow jersey might take it easy – although on the Tour, that’s all relative.
Starting in Chambéry, capital of the Savoie region, today’s route is officially a flat stage – but actually packs in four category 3-4 climbs into the first 60km. There are still a few more bumps in the road through Isère before the finish line in Voiron, offering a chance for early breaks to stay clear of the sprint powerhouses.
