Everyone is aware that including Montmartre in the final stage will compromise a mass finish on the Champs-Élysées. Stage 17 between Bollène and Valence represents the last clear opportunity for sprinters in this Tour de France. To be convinced, just take a look at the flat profile and the city's Tour de France winners: Cavendish, Sagan, Greipel; only the Colombian “Chepe” Gonzalez, who won in a breakaway in 1996, is the exception to the rule.
Biniam Girmay and his Intermarché-Wanty team see this as their realistic chance to avoid finishing empty-handed after last year's three victories. In any case, they can cling to this hope. Jonathan Milan and Lidl-Trek need to rack up as many points as possible to protect the green jersey from Pogacar, and also want to make the Italian sprinter's first Tour de France even more memorable. Tim Merlier and his Soudal-Quick Step team will want to continue shining in the sunshine that has returned after the storm, as Aurélien Paret-Peintre described after his triumph on Mont Ventoux, which followed Remco Evenepoel's painful withdrawal.
It is the Milan-Merlier duel that many expect on the Boulevard Franklin Roosevelt in Valence. But the list of sprinters eager to finish on a high note also includes Australia's Kaden Groves, Belgium's Arnaud De Lie and Jordi Meeus, Germany's Phil Bauhaus and Pascal Ackermann, France's Paul Penhoët and Arnaud Démare... There will only be one winner.
