Stage 17 was virtually the “last chance to dance” in the 2025 Tour de France for sprinters – and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) heard the call!
Dropped early in the stage, the Italian powerhouse survived the climbs as well as a rough finale in pouring rain to take his second win in his debut Tour and tighten his hold on the green jersey, with only four days remaining before Paris.
Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Tobias Lund Andresen (Picnic PostNL) completed the podium, while Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) were caught up in a crash as they entered the final kilometer. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) safely navigated the stage to claim his 50th Maillot Jaune on the eve of a major battle en route to the Col de la Loze.
In between the summit finishes at Mont Ventoux and Col de la Loze, stage 17 took the riders from Bollène to Valence, with a 160.4-km course featuring 1,650 meters of elevation. The last categorized climb, Col de Tartaiguille (cat. 4) was more than 40 kilometers away from the finish. But attackers dreamt of getting the better of tired sprint teams.
Abrahamsen attacked, Simmons controlled
A 164-man peloton set off from Bollène without Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), heading home as his partner gave birth a few hours earlier.
Meanwhile, Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) showed his intention to make yet another breakaway. Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) was immediately in action, with the task to prevent the formation of too-strong group at the front.
At km 5, Abrahamsen had opened up a gap of 30 seconds with Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost), Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (Total Energies). Many more riders wanted to join them at the front but Simmons prevented them from doing so. Most notably, Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers) gave up on his chase and was reeled in as the gap hits its maximum for the day: 2’50’’ at km 23.
Skirmish at Col du Pertuis
Abrahamsen led the way through the intermediate sprint at Roche-Saint-Secret-Béconne (km 47.9),
where the breakaway maintained a 2’00” advantage.
The scripts changed when Ineos Grenadiers began to pull the peloton on the approach to Col du Pertuis (cat. 4, summit at km 66.3), reducing the gap to just 35″ at the top and opening up the race on two fronts.
On one side, there were multiple attacks controlled again by Simmons. On the other, Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) and Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) were dropped along with other sprinters such as Dylan Groenwegen (Jayco-AlUla) and Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels).
Van Aert tried his luck
Despite the efforts of teams such as Alberto Dainese’s Tudor, Kaden Groves’ Alpecin-Deceuninck and Biniam Girmay’s Intermarché-Wanty, who had made it over the pass, the dropped sprinters managed to catch up with the peloton, well supported by their teammates, at kilometer 85 of the stage. At that point, the breakaway’s lead had been reduced to 30 seconds.
The situation settles in the bunch and the gap gets back up to 1’10’’ for the last 50 kilometres. The riders quickly face the climb of Col de Tartaiguille (cat. 4, km 117). Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) attacks towards the summit and gets as close as 25 seconds behind Albanese, Pacher and Burgaudeau. But he can’t bridge the remaining gap and is caught by the bunch after 12 kilometres of pursuit.
Milan survived
The tension increased in the bunch as the rain started to fall. Sprint teams had to put the hammer down to get back to the attackers. With 12 km to go, the gap was down to 20’’ and Abrahamsen went solo. He was eventually caught by the bunch with 4 kilometers to go. Then it was all go.
As the sprinters geared up for a furious battle, a crash occurred in the front positions with one kilometer to go. Eight riders sprint out in front go for the win. Ahead of the split, Milan proved to be the strongest of them, claiming his second stage win in his Tour debut, ahead of Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Tobias Lund Andresen (Picnic PostNL).
