July 17, 2024: Tour de France 2024; Stage 17: Saint Paul Trois Chateaux to SuperDevoluy – 177.8 KM
Richard Carapaz brought his own first stage win, and Ecuador their first victory in the Tour de France, and he became the 110th rider with stage wins in the three Grand Tours.
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. The Ecuadorian was the fastest on the ascent (0.3km/h faster than Simon Yates) and he was flying on the downhill, going over 84km/h. Eric Mas came in third.
Pogacar retains the Maillot Jauune ahead of Vingegaard by 3’11″and Remco Evenepoel by 5’09”. Evenepoel launched an attack on the final climb to SuperDevoluy earning him 10” on Pogacar and 12” over Vingegaard at the finish line.
Romain Gregoire won the most combative jersey, while Biniam Girmay continues his lead in the green jersey.
The Details
Starting out in Saint Paul Trois Chateaux, a five-time stage town, and last seen in 2011 when Thor Hushovd, then World Champion, won the sprint ahead of Edvald Boasson Hagen.
Today though they would end at SuperDevoluy, usually a ski town in the Hautes Alpes in the commune of Devoluy. The town hosts 260 km of mountain biking trails, and 55 km of bike park trails.
As we drove to the summit ahead of the finish, thousands of cyclists were making their way up the challenging mountain.
At the intermediate sprint in Veynes, (km 114.8), 15:20
1. Magnus Cort (Uno-X), 20
2. Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), 17
3. Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike), 15
4. Bob Jungels (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), 13
5. Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty), 11
6. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), 10
With 47.6 km to go, the lead riders were 1 minute 3 seconds ahead of the middle group and the peloton was 3 minutes 31 seconds behind the leaders. At this point the leaders continued to take time from their pursuers as they left La Freissinouse.
With 38.8 km yo go the break consisting of B. Jungels, R. Gregoire, T. Benoot and M Cort was 4 minutes 22 seconds ahead of the peloton. and one minute 43 seconds ahead of their 48 pursuers, including S. Yates, S. Cras, G. Martin, I. De Plus, R. Carapaz, and E. Mas.
Trailing behind in the peloton group were Pogacar, Vingegaard, and Evenepoel, as well as 90 other riders. Soon they were behind the leaders by 4 ‘ 54 “.