After Jai Hindley and Carlos Rodriguez, Felix Gall became the third Tour de France debutant to win a stage – a big mountain stage also – in the 110th edition as the Austrian from AG2R-Citroën soloed up to col de la Loze to win at Courchevel before Simon Yates and Jonas Vingegaard who won another duel with Tadej Pogacar by a huge margin.
CICCONE FIRST AT LES SAISIES
155 riders took the start of stage 17 at 12.34. One non-starter: Alexis Renard (Cofidis). French champion Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) and Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) were first on the attack but it didn’t work out. Tadej Pogacar crashed after 15km of racing. Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Neilson Powless, Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-EasyPost), Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick Step), Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious), Giulio Ciccone, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Felix Gall (AG2R-Citroën), Rui Costa (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Victor Lafay (Cofidis), Kevin Vermaerke (DSM-Firmenich), Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech), Simon Yates, Lawson Craddock, Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla), Clément Champoussin (Arkea-Samsic), Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X) rode away after 20km of racing, which was 8km before the col des Saisies. Despite a regrouping, Ciccone crested col des Saisies (cat. 1, km 28) in first position before his team-mate Skjelmose. The Italian rode away in the downhill along with Alaphilippe and Neilands.
CICCONE FIRST AT CORMET DE ROSELEND AND LONGEFOY
35 riders gathered at the front 13km before the summit of Cormet de Roselend: Tiesj Benoot, Wilco Kelderman (Jumbo-Visma) Rafal Majka, Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), David Gaudu, Stefan Küng, Valentin Madouas, Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Magnus Cort, Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-EasyPost), Julian Alaphilippe, Dries Devenyns (Soudal-Quick Step), Pello Bilbao, Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious), Giulio Ciccone, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Ben O’Connor, Nans Peters, Felix Gall (Ag2r-Citröen), Rui Costa (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar), Matthew Dinham, Kevin Vermaerke (DSM-Firmenich), Hugo Houle, Nick Schultz, Krists Neilands (Israel-PremierTech), Simon Yates, Lawson Craddock, Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla), Clément Champoussin, Simon Guglielmi (Arkéa-Samsic), Alexey Lutsenko, Gianni Moscon (Astana), Tobias Johannessen, Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X). Ciccone and Skjelmose were again first and second at Cormet de Roselend and côte de Longefoy. In the valley, Küng kept the breakaway alive while Van Aert was pulling the yellow jersey group strongly. The time difference was 3’ with 50km to go.
GALL AND THE AG2R-CITROËN TRADITION IN THE MOUNTAINS
15 riders did most of the ascent to col de la Loze together at the front while the group of the Maillot Jaune was in no hurry to catch them. However, Tadej Pogacar was distanced by Vingegaard and his team-mates 16km before the end. With 13km to go, Gall rode away solo after O’Connor sacrificed his chances for him. The Austrian crested col de la Loze in first position and won the Souvenir Henri-Desgrange 20’’ ahead of Simon Yates. He was on his way to a solo victory to maintain the tradition of AG2R-Citroën: the French team based the Savoy where stage 16 took place won a mountain stage of the Tour de France in 2020 with Nans Peters in the Pyrénées, in 2021 and 2022 with Ben O’Connor and Bob Jungels in the Alps. Vingegaard crossed the line in third position 5’45’’ before Pogacar. The advantage of the Dane over the Slovenian is 7’35’’ with four stages to go.
