Richard Carapaz became the 110th rider to complete the Grand Tour stage win hat-trick by taking victory on stage 17 of the Tour de France at Superdévoluy.
Carapaz, the reigning Olympic champion, also became the first Ecuadorian rider to win a stage of the French Grand Tour after outgunning Simon Yates (Jayco-AIUla) on the climb of the Col du Noyer in the southern French Alps.
The EF Education-EasyPost rider now has stage wins in all three Grand Tours to his name.
Yates was the first man to bridge across to the remnants of the day's breakaway on the medium mountain stage, attacking on the lower slopes of the Noyer before eventually bridging across to the lead group. Carapaz attempted to follow along with Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech).
Eventually Carapaz dispatched Williams and soon made his way across to Yates at the head of the race. The EF Education-EasyPost rider then launched a stinging acceleration which soon distanced Yates. Carapaz threw his bike into every corner on the descent as he went in search of victory.
The former winner of the Giro d’Italia - and wearer of the yellow jersey - didn’t look back and eventually rode to his first ever Tour stage win.
Meanwhile Tadej Pogačar attempted to put yet more time between himself and Jonas Vingegaard in the fight for overall victory. The Slovenian violently attacked from the yellow jersey group which appeared to briefly distance the Dane.
Aided by his teammates, Vingegaard was able to eventually bridge across to the race leader. However, the stalemate was short lived as Remco Evenepoel then attacked and managed to build a small advantage.
Evenepoel was the winner of the day amongst the GC group, taking back a handful of seconds on Pogačar and Vingegaard. The race leader only managed to increase his lead over the defending champion by just two seconds as the race nears its conclusion in Nice this weekend.
Pogačar is now 3:11 ahead of Vingegaard, with Evenepoel 5:09 off the lead and 1:58 from the Visma-Lease a Bike rider in second overall.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Stage 17 appeared to be, on paper, one of the final opportunities for a breakaway to get an advantage and keep it all the way to the finish. The riders faced 177 kilometres of hilly terrain between the start in Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to the finish at the ski resort of Superdévoluy in the southern French Alps.
A four man breakaway attacked midway through the stage and quickly built an advantage. Bob Jungels (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was in the move, as was Magnus Cort Nielsen (Uno-X Mobility), Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Groupama FDJ’s Romain Grégoire.
It initially looked like the break would be caught by the peloton with less than 50 kilometres remaining, but a huge counter move from the main field formed which allowed the four leaders to increase their advantage as they began the category two Col Bayard. Geraint Thomas, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Romain Bardet (dsm–firmenich PostNL), Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) were just some of the high profile riders present in the chasing group.
The heat gradually began to take its toll on the Bayard as the chase group began to split after several riders lifted the pace in a bid to bridge across to the Cort led breakaway.
The pace proved to be too much for Thomas as he dropped away from the action as the summit approached.
With 22 kilometres to go, French duo Valentin Madouas (Groupama FDJ) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) made the jump from the chase group and managed to get across the gap to the leaders.
Simon Yates (Jayco-AIUla) was also part of the chasing pack. The Briton attacked as the Col du Noyer began and quickly made his way across to the leaders. Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) and Carapaz were the next riders to join the remnants of the initial breakaway.
Yates immediately danced away from the break with Carapaz and Williams now the next two riders on the road. Carapaz then dropped Williams and got back on terms with Yates as the Noyer continued.
Clearly not content with anything other than the stage win, the Ecuadorian then launched a violent acceleration on the steepest part of the climb which eventually distanced Yates. Carapaz didn’t let up and eventually rode to a memorable first-ever Tour stage victory.
Meanwhile a minor GC battle erupted on the slopes of the Noyer. A flurry of attacks ultimately came to very little as Tadej Pogačar increased his advantage over Jonas Vingegaard by just two seconds.
RESULTS
Tour de France 2024, stage 17: Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux > Superdévoluy (177.8km)
1. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, in 4:06:13
2. Simon Yates (Gbr) Jayco-AIUla, +37s
3. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, +57s
4. Laurens De Plus (Bel) Ineos Grenadiers, +1:44
5. Oscar Onley (Gbr) dsm–firmenich PostNL, at same time
6. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis, +2:36
7. Magnus Cort (Den) Uno-X Mobility, +2:38
8. Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain Victorious, +2:39
9. Jordan Jegat (Fra) Total Energies,
10. Alex Aranburu (Esp) Movistar, both at same time
General classification after stage 17
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 70:21:27
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +3:11
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +5:09
4. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, +12:57
5. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal-Quick Step, +13:24
6. Carlos Rodríguez (Esp) Ineos Grenadiers, +13:30
7. Adam Yates (GBr) UAE Team Emirates, +15:41
8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +17:51
9. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech, +18:15
10. Santiago Buitrago (Col) Bahrain Victorious, +18:35
