We’re back in the mountains for the first of four consecutive days of climbing - days that will define and decide this Tour de France. With the exception of maybe the U25 classification, where Godoy looks to be in complete control, every facet of the race is still up in the air. The overall win, the podium, the Top 10, and even the mountain and points classifications, not to mention some pretty prestigeous stage wins. Let’s get going, shall we?
Some new and some familiar faces head out first: van Zyl, Mas, Ji and Lastra. The latter is of course second in the mountain classification, but he might struggle on the toughest ascents and you’d imagine at some point, all those breakaway efforts have to take their toll.
We’ve seen Boily at the front as well a few times already, and Teklehaimanot, who attacks on the left, at least once. But the peloton is pacing hard, they don’t seem to be too happy with the current situation.
The duo gets a small gap for now and is then joined by some prominent company: Elissonde, stage winner Nesset and none other than Schleck! Mamykin also attacks in the distance followed by Budyak.
Those two are joined by another big name: It’s Galta who makes the move we’ve come to expect so regularly from him. The peloton has relented a bit, let’s wait and see if more attacks follow.
Indeed, despite the leaders being already more than one and a half minutes ahead, Prado wants to bridge the gap and reacting is another major player: Berhane! Like Galta, who is 16th in the GC, the Eritrean can’t be happy with his 14th overall at the moment. But he’s “only” a good 8 minutes behind the yellow jersey, 4 minutes behind the Top 10 - will he be allowed to break away?
The attacks keep coming and really, it’s no wonder, considering the profile of the stage with only a brief final climb lends itself to a breakaway win really well. Valls answers his manager’s pleads and attacks, followed by Godoy, Chiarello, Kastrantas and Brenes, the almost-winner of last year’s polkadots. The big guys are really getting going here!
Next up, but quite a different type of rider, is Tennant! Followed though by some more capable climbers: Iturria, Carapaz and Goos, who is 15th overall at the moment.
The GC teams seem very confident in their ability to control such a strong breakaway, or they simply don’t value the stage win as much, because they don’t show the slightest inclination to bring anyone back at this point. Rakuten, who have not managed to put anyone in the break despite a plethora of valid candidates, join in at the front as well.
Or have I spoken too soon? The group does not manage to really grow their lead, instead it steadily drops to under 2 minutes. They need to pick up the pace if we don’t want to be back to square one in a few kilometers.
A small relief comes with the Col des Lèques, that allows them to at least gain another 30 seconds on the peloton. As we come closer to the summit, Teklehaimanot attacks. He’s got 10 mountain points to his name so far and wants to double that figure.
Lastra is at the very end of the group, already struggling, as Prado almost catches up with Teklehaimanot. I’ve mentioned this before, but his body really must be aching by now.
Galta wins the mountain sprint, pipping Teklehaimanot at the line. As you can see down the road, a group of 9 riders around Lastra has basically given up once the others had attacked. Some of the stronger climbers like Brenes, Ji, Godoy and Goos are in there, so this is a bit of a mystery. We’ll take stock in a bit.
Indeed, those 9 riders had no ambitions whatsoever to catch up. In addition to the ones mentioned above, Budyak, Kastrantas, Iturria and Mas are here. All nine still have teammates up front though, maybe that’s part of why they didn’t work that hard to stay with them.
That leaves 14 riders ahead, some of whom would have liked to actually have some support, but on the flip side, the peloton has really slowed down now. At this point, with 110 kilometers to go, the group has almost 5 minutes of a lead.
With that, we can be more confident of the stability of the situation and allow ourselves to take a closer look. Here’s an overview of the riders present, their GC ranking and the number of mountain points they have (including those from the first climb today):
14.
Berhane
+ 8’22
4
16.
Galta
+ 9’10
13
20.
Chiarello
+ 11’26
22.
Mamykin
+ 11’57
4
25.
Schleck
+ 14’30
27.
Valls
+ 15’14
30.
Prado
+ 17’07
6
42.
Teklehaimanot
+ 21’53
18
54.
Carapaz
+ 25’40
71.
Boily
+ 31’34
28
81.
Elissonde
+ 36’08
97.
van Zyl
+ 49’47
4
101.
Nesset
+ 51’22
24
140.
Tennant
+ 1h20’27
The first four to five riders will not only be looking for the stage win and some mountain points, but also to boost their GC position.
They are also the strongest climbers of the group, with maybe the addition of Carapaz and Elissonde. Tennant and to a lesser extent van Zyl are the odd men out in terms of their climbing skills, don’t expect especially the former to hang on for very long.
Also, as a reminder, Abreu leads the KoM ranking with 57 points and 48 are still available today, counting all remaining mountain sprints and the finish. So four riders have the chance to take that jersey today already, but everyone can lay the foundation for another attempt or two over the coming days.
Rakuten seem really annoyed that they have no one up front and they let Cheung pace for a long time on the flat stretch between the two first climbs. He does a solid job and reduces the gap to under four minutes, but once he’s done and Gazelle and Puma take over again, the gap goes back up immediately.
Especially once they are back on ascending roads, the breakaway continues to increase its lead. Everyone seems to chip in equally, it helps to have no team with more than one rider, I guess.
No early attacks for the mountain points this time, just a good old-fashioned all out sprint. Teklehaimanot scores 6 points, he’s now at 24, 4 and 2 go to Valls and Prado, respectively.
Rakuten continue to lead the peloton, by now with Rajapakshage and Onodera, so every time the breakaway is on flat or descending terrain, the gap shrinks just a little bit. At the intermediate sprint, it still stands at 4’30, though, and we’re soon back on a climb - the Col de la Colle Saint Michel is waiting.
By now, we also have the first riders seperated from the back of the peloton. In what has become a familiar sight, Wolf and Lanterne Rouge Vlatos are the last two riders on the road. Gruppettos should form soon and the remaining climbs aren’t super steep, so the time limit should not be a big issue, but we’ll keep an eye on things.
As expected, Tennant suffers the same fate in the breakaway. But he did make it to 3 kilometers from the summit, you can’t expect much more.
A few minutes later, Elissonde attacks. Teklehaimanot is in a good position to make another step in the mountain classification.
Indeed, he just barely makes it ahead of Valls. Teklehaimanot is at 34 points now, he needs 23 from the final two climbs - that’s second twice, or first and then fourth. Berhane, Carapaz and Chiarello collect the remaining points.
The peloton follows still at around 4 minutes, it’s now been Kratochvila and Iino who’ve been doing the work up the climb. A frustrating situation for many involved, I’m sure, except for maybe the major GC teams who can have their domestiques relax a little. The pace has also drastically reduced the peloton to just around 60 riders already.
But Rakuten aren’t the only team with an interest in keeping the breakaway close, it seems. They eventually run out of guys to chase, but first Aegon (despite Valls’s presence in the breakaway) and then Puma pick up right where they left off. Bevin and Vasyliv invest quite a bit to continue to keep the group within 4 minutes. Herklotz might be looking for some bonus seconds (and points) on a finish that should suit him pretty well.
That high pace also found victims in Godoy and Goos, who fell behind alongside former co-escapee Ji. Maybe they really overextended themselves earlier when in the chase to get into the breakaway. They are already more than two and a half minutes behind the peloton and the interesting thing is that Novak and Geoghegan Hart, who are just around 5 minutes behind Godoy, are both still in there. It seems like the young riders classification may not be as settled as I had thought. In addition, Goos will very likely lose a lot of time and his 15th overall along with it.
Vasyliv soon ran out of energy himself. For a bit, Gazelle took over, who had no interest in catching the breakaway at all and within moments, the gap shot back up from around 2’30 to 4 minutes. Now, Stüssi has moved to the front, but he only manages to keep the gap steady. Puma’s lack of a top tier mountain squad really shows here.
With around 2 kilometers left on the climb, Chiarello attacks! This is now not just about mountain points, but also about bringing down the number of contenders for a potential stage win. It’s crucial for everyone to hang on here now!
That’s the limit for van Zyl. Good job by him to get this far, though.
Then Boily is done. There are stronger climbers in that group making the pace right now, plus, as mentioned, this isn’t his first day out front.
Just under the summit, there’s another small split. Elissonde has to leave a gap, Schleck, Valls and Carapaz are struggling as well.
Chiarello looking really strong here, he keeps the lead all the way to the top. Galta and Berhane are the only ones who can stay with him, not a surprise to see these three up here.
Teklehaimanot can only add 2 more points, Abreu will therefore don the polkadots for another day tomorrow. For these guys, it’s now all about catching up to the three leaders on the descent to keep a shot at the stage win.
The stage win will definetely go to the breakaway, Puma simply did not have the manpower to allow Herklotz to fight for it - Van Stayen will be grateful. Dekker is now chipping in after Valls showed he could not keep up at the front, but the gap is still at more than 4 minutes. Which, by the way, puts Berhane and Galta right back in the middle of the Top 10 fight, if it holds.
Now, though, we have the first attack from the peloton: It’s Eastman, who goes for it. He would have definetely been a candidate for the early breakaway - and he sure wishes he’d have attacked then -, but maybe he’s trying out for a bigger move tomorrow.
As a quick aside, Novak is riding in the virtual white jersey right now. Godoy is collapsing, he’s more than 7 minutes behind the peloton!
Another attack happens at the very front! Berhane does not want to leave it to the climb, he attacks on the downhill alreay! He’s a decent downhill rider, but not significantly better than his two chasers.
Sorry to jump around so much, but there’s just a lot happening right now - back to Eastman, who has brought a good minute between himself and the peloton in no time. Gazelle is in control of the pack and again, still no motivation whatsoever for them to do any meaningful work.
Meanwhile, Nesset, Prado, Mamykin and Teklehaimanot have caught up with Galta and Chiarello. Berhane still holds a small gap, but that feels unlikely to hold until the bottom of the descent.
Carapaz, Valls, Schleck and Elissonde trail these guys by around 40 seconds. Then there’s a larger gap to Boily, who’s still well ahead of the peloton (as is van Zyl even), but also out of contention for today.
Berhane of course proves me wrong immediately and even extends his gap a bit, entering the final climb with a lead of 16 seconds. That’s not much, but given his strong climbing skills, his chasers won’t have it easy to close it.
Eastman, still in the descent, has extended his lead to the peloton to 2 minutes. He’s 18th in the GC, 9’52 behind Herklotz, around 5 minutes behind the Top 10, so not a big threat, but you’ve got to start your GC climb somewhere and it looks like he found a nice spot. The peloton is really not in a chasing mood, which also manifests itself in the almost 7 minutes that Berhane has on them at this point, which puts him in the virtual Top 5!
For the first kilometer or so, Chiarello leads the chasers. He keeps the gap steady, but can’t bring Berhane closer. Nesset takes over now, but I assume we might also see an attack from this group soon? Looking at you in particular, Galta!
It’s not an attack, but the Norwegian reduces the gap to Berhane considerably. 3 kilometers to go.
Galta looks very strong and he brings back Berhane. Sensing an opportunity, Mamykin attacks!
He gets a small gap but Berhane has not given up yet and goes after him.
The two link up with the Flamme Rouge in sight! Galta continues to lead the others.
And once again, he closes that gap! We might be looking at a sprint for the stage win here! No one is that much faster than anyone else, and it’s likely just about who has conserved the most energy anyway.
They are really, really struggling now, going very slowly. The calm before the storm, or are they just that exhausted?
Galta holds the lead with 500 meters to go, Chiarello in his wheel. The Brazilian has looked strong all day, can he make a final move?
He tries, that’s for sure! Chiarello and Teklehaimanot come to the front, Prado tries to get in there as well, the other three seem beaten.
Galta and Chiarello are now side by side, but it looks like the latter has just a little bit more pace!
It’s close but William Chiarello has it! He wins Stage 17! Galta finishes second after a massive effort on the final climb, Prado does tremendously well today and finishes 3rd ahead of Nesset, who scores another strong result from a breakaway.
Mamykin finishes 5th, Teklehaimanot 6th, Berhane falls to 7th after his initial attack on the descent. He will make a big jump in the GC, though - the peloton is still around 7 minutes behind at this point. Just a bit further down the road, the quartet around Schleck start their sprint.
They’ve done well on the final climb and didn’t lose any additional time, finishing just 47 seconds behind the leaders, but were never close to catching up either. Still, 8th is a decent result for Valls, as is 9th for Elissonde. Schleck and Carapaz maybe would have hoped for a better result, but there’s always tomorrow (and the two days after that).
Eastman has by now made his way past Boily and van Zyl, all three of them more than 3 minutes ahead of the peloton. Massive effort especially by the South African to make it this far.
There’s been hardly any real movement in the peloton on the final climb. With just under 2 kilometers to go, Morton has taken the lead and is increasing the pace just a little bit.
Eastman finishes 12th today, just over 3 minutes behind Chiarello. A good performance, but surely only the warmup for another attack in the next few days?
Herklotz now comes side by side with Morton. They’re into the final 800 meters.
Ahead of them, Boily and van Zyl are next over the line, both end up losing quite a bit to Eastman in the final kilometer, but it’s not like time matters much to them. They still get to finish ahead of the peloton.
Herklotz puts in a quick acceleration in the final meters and comes in 5'21 behind Chiarello. He handily distances everyone else, but not enough for a time gap.
He ends up with one point for the points classification, finishing 15th - an almost perfect day for Evonik. His move also put a bunch of the remaining domestiques and climbers in trouble. The main GC riders are, for the most part, securely at the front, but Schelling is actually in a bit of trouble towards the back there.
And indeed, he ends up timed 25 seconds behind the other contenders. Really not ideal for him, considering the fight for the Top 10 got even tougher today.
Novak finishes in the following group alongside Kangert. A somewhat poor day for the latter (though to be fair that’s compared to some stellar performances so far), he slips a a couple of positions in the GC. But a great day for the former, who not only takes white, but convincingly so as he gains an additional 2 minutes on Geoghegan Hart.
Godoy hasn’t even started the final climb at this point. He ends up losing more than half an hour (!) today. Around him, fellow former breakaway riders Goos and Brenes lose about as much or even more, not the first time we see a scenario like this where an early effort leads to a complete collapse. Godoy’s days in white are over, as are Goos’ in the Top 15 - he actually drops 55 places to 70th!
As predicted, Vlatos and Wolf make it to the line in time, and with 20 minutes still to spare. The two spent the whole day together, not for the first time. I’m sure they’re good friends by now. Or maybe they really don’t like each other, which would be pretty terrible. Let’s hope it’s the former.
A lot to unpack today, let me give you an overview: Berhane goes from 14th overall all the way up to 6th, Galta from 16th to 8th, Chiarello from 20th to 15th and Mamykin from 22nd to 16th. Eastman stays in 18th place but comes closer to the Top 10, time-wise.
Herklotz does not manage to utilize this type of finish to his advantage, but this time it wasn’t that his team didn’t care, they just weren’t strong enough compared to the elite climbers in the break - and Gazelle was all too willing to interfere with the chase whenever possible.
It was of course also a missed opportunity to gain some points on Van Stayen, but the Belgian has three more mountain stages to survive - he’ll hope for more breakaways, in which Chiarello might be looking to build on today’s exploits in the mountain classification as well, where he’s up to 11th now.
Concerning the young rider’s classification, Novak is sitting pretty, more than 2 minutes ahead of Geoghegan Hart, but Godoy should be a cautionary tale to not be too confident there. Isostar also continue to lead the team classification, but Valls’ efforts have brought Aegon 3 minutes closer.
Tomorrow is another mountain stage that looks suitable for a breakaway. Will we see more GC contenders trying their luck? Will the peloton be able to control them better? Let’s find out together!
Tour de France 
