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 favourites 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 remains 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 travelled 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 pedalling to a memorable victory at SuperDevoluy.
‘I had good legs and I was confident’ – Evenepoel
“I had done the reconnaissance for this stage so I knew the final well and that helped me. The start of the stage was very difficult, it took more than two hours to form a breakaway. Then I thought we were going to finish quite quietly, but Lidl-Trek launched an attack, then it was Tadej so there was a confrontation again. I was with Jonas and he did his best to come back, we were able to catch up on the descent with Christophe Laporte. At that moment, I felt like I had good legs and I was confident. So in the car they told me that I could try something. There was Jan Hirt at the front. I asked him to wait for me and then drop me off at the last kilometre and he did it perfectly. I took back 10” from Tadej and Jonas but that wasn’t the goal. I remain focused on my place on the podium, I’m good where I am but it allowed me to gain a little time on those behind me. I know that Tadej is defending his first place, but I am five minutes from him so I benefit from a little freedom and I took advantage of it.” – www.letour.fr
