After years of close calls, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) notched his first TDF stage win on Stage 17 of the 2024 Tour de France, outpowering his rivals on the final climbs. Carapaz launched an attack on the penultimate climb, to reach Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) and then overtake him 1.8km from the Col du Noyer summit, going on to reach the finish at SuperDevoluy, 37” ahead of the Briton and 57” ahead of Enric Mas (Movistar Team), who was third.
The GC favourites, trailing significant minutes behind the stage leaders, tested each other on the final two climbs, with Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) also attacking on the Col du Noyer, before Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) responded. Evenepoel then launched an attack on the final climb to SuperDevoluy earning him 10” on Pogacar and 12” over Vingegaard at the finish line. Pogacar remains in yellow, now leading second-placed Vingegaard by 3’11” and Evenepoel by 5’09”.
148 riders rolled out this morning after the abandonments of Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain – Victorious) and Elmar Reinders (Team Jayco AlUla). Early in the stage that number decreased, with Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team), Fernando Gaviria (Movistar Team) and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan Team) dropping out within the first hour of racing.
Blistering First Hour
A breakaway did not form immediately and the Visma-Lease a Bike riders attempted an attack at km 9. Three UAE riders, Yates, Soler and Sivakov temporarily found themselves in a second group, but the peloton regrouped at km 17. Following this came a rapid succession of attacks and counter-attacks, with Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X), Jarrad Drizners (Lotto-Dstny) and Harold Tejada (Astana) going clear between km 30 and km 36 before they were reeled in.
At km 57, it was Magnus Cort (Uno-X) who initiated an attack which saw Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike), Bob Jungels (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) follow him to form a strong four-man breakaway group. The chase was incessant behind them and caused significant splits and then regroupings in the peloton, with crosswinds also having an obvious impact on the main group.
Cort First at the Intermediate Sprint
At the intermediate sprint in Veynes (km 114.8), it was Cort who arrived in first position, while the peloton were 45” behind the breakaway four, led by the green jersey Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty). Soon after that, at around km 120, a group of 47 riders counter-attacked out of the peloton, which gave them the go-ahead. At the foot of Col Bayard (Cat. 2, km 145.7), the leading quartet had a 1’45” advantage over their pursuers and 4’50” over the GC group controlled by UAE Team Emirates. By the summit of that climb, which Cort was first to the top of, the leading quartet had a 30” advantage over the chasing pair of Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), who had left the other riders from the large counter-attack group behind. That group trailed the breakaway riders by 1’00” at the top of the Col Bayard, whilst the relaxed peloton in which the GC riders were present was +6’40” off the lead of the race.
Attacks on Col du Noyer
Martin and Madouas made it to the front at the foot of the Col du Noyer (PB, Cat. 1, km 166.3), where the chasing group was 40” from the head of the race. Simon Yates then attacked from that chasing group, the Briton from Jayco-AlUla soon catching and overtaking the leading six. Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) was also in hot pursuit and he then caught Yates on the penultimate climb of the stage, the pair briefly ascending together, before Carapaz attacked and went solo 1.8 km from the Col du Noyer summit. The Ecuadorian hero and Olympic champion would not look back from there, relentlessly pedaling to a memorable victory at SuperDevoluy.
Carapaz: “This Means Everything”
“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.
“Today we arrived here with the plan to win a stage and that’s how it went so I am incredibly happy for that.”
Yates: “Another Second Place”
“Another second place stage finish for me. I did my best, but I was running out of legs in the end. Chapeau to Richie, he did a great ride, but that’s all I could do today in the final,” Yates told reporters after the stage. “I followed Romain Bardet [on the Col du Noyer] at the bottom, I don’t know if he was trying to launch someone else and then I saw I had a gap, so I decided to go full gas. I saw I had the gap and I preferred to be alone rather than someone catch me, so I tried to keep Richie and Stevie Williams away and maybe I paid for that a little bit in the end, but I didn’t really want them to catch me.
I don’t know what the GC guys want to do in the next mountain stages, but if there’s a chance I’ll try again.”
Evenepoel Solidifies Third Place
Evenepoel finished seconds ahead of Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), a result that puts him within two minutes on the second-placed rider in the standings while at the same time ensuring him a comfortable buffer over those trailing him.
“I knew the climbs of this stage, so I was pretty confident. When Tadej attacked my legs felt good and I reacted, did my best and joined him on the descent. Knowing that Jan was up the road, I attacked in the finale and bridged across, and he just left everything out there. I felt good and kept going, and even though I didn’t gain a lot of time, my main goal was to take time on the guys behind me in the GC, so I’m happy I did that. The team was tactically strong today, we are all motivated and we’ll try our best to keep this place on the podium”, Remco explained after the stage.
Stage 17 Brief Results
- Richard Carapaz (EF Education – Easypost)
- Simon Yates (Jayco – AlUla) @ 37”
- Enric Mas (Movistar) @ 57”
- Laurens De Plus (Ineos Grenadiers) @ 1’44”
- Oscar Onley (DSM – Firmenich) s.t. ‘
General Classification After Stage 17
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +3’11”
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) +5’09”
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +12’57”
- Mikel Landa (Soudal-Quick Step) +13’24”
- Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +13’30”
- Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +15’41”
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