Stage 17: Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux > Superdévoluy (July 17)

2024 TOUR DE FRANCE STAGE 17:  Mountain

178 km (111 mi) / 2,952 m (9,686’)

SAINT-PAUL-TROIS-CHÂTEAUX>SUPERDÉVOLUY - July 17

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Stage Preview (from letour.fr):

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.

KOM Corner

Official post-race summary for Stage 17 (from letour.fr)

The victory on Stage 17 of the 2024 Tour de France went to Richard Carapaz at the SuperDevoluy finish, with the EF Education-EasyPost rider outpowering his rivals on the final climbs. Securing his first ever Tour de France stage win, 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 favorites also 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 remained in yellow, now leading second placed Vingegaard by 3'11” and Evenepoel by 5'09”.

High paced start
Of the riders who had finished Stage 16, Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain – Victorious) and Elmar Reinders (Team Jayco AlUla) were non-starters - in Reinders’ case because he had traveled home for the birth of his first child – meaning there were 148 riders on the start line in Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux. Early in the stage that number decreased, following the abandons of Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team), Fernando Gaviria (Movistar Team) and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan Team) who were unable to take the pace, as the bunch covered 49 km in the first hour of racing whilst also encountering crosswinds.

A four-man breakaway
The 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, whilst 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.

Col du Noyer attacks
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. Richard 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.

STAGE 17 DETAILS AND STATISTICS

• Location: French Alps - Hautes-Alpes Department, France.
• Distance: 178 kilometers / 111 miles
• Altitude Gained: 2,952 meters / 9,686’ (most elevation gain of any stage of the 2023 TdF).
• Percentage Grade:

• 40% (71 kilometers / 44 miles)  descent
• 49.5% (88 kilometers / 55 miles) 0-5%
• 9.5% (17 kilometers / 11 miles)  5-10%
• 1% (2.4 kilometers / 1.5 miles) 10-15%

• Steepest:

• 500 meters 12.9% / Quarter-mile 12.9% (Steepest 500 m and quarter mile are near the beginning of Cormet de Roselend)
• 1 Kilometer 11.6% / 1 mile 10.4% (steepest km - Cormet de Roselend; steepest mile - near the top of Col de la Loze)

• Highest Point on the Route: 1,664 meters / 5458’ (Station Peyragudes)
• Lowest Point on the Route: 84 meters / 276’

COMMENTS FROM RACE DIRECTOR CHRISTIAN PRUDHOMME - STAGE 17:

“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.” (Tour de France Stage 17).