Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) soloed to victory in stage 17 after days of trying to get in a breakaway, and in doing so, won his first ever Tour de France stage. Simon Yates (Jayco-AIUla) finished second, 37 seconds down, followed by Enric Mas (Movistar) in third at 57 seconds.
Carapaz was elated to have finally won a stage at the Tour de France. “It was a very difficult stage, with many attacks and a big group in the end. I knew I could do something from that big group. I picked the right moment, I knew the climb well. I looked at it well in the road book and knew there was something to be gained. This is a great victory. I’ve been trying to win a stage in the Tour for years. Only the very best win in the Tour. You have to be very good, the level is very high. I think everyone who knows me is very happy.”
Yates explained afterwards how he did his best. “Another second place stage finish for me. I did my best, but I was running out of legs in the end. Chapeau to Richie, he did a great ride, but that’s all I could do today in the final. I followed Romain Bardet [on the Col du Noyer] at the bottom, I don’t know if he was trying to launch someone else and then I saw I had a gap, so I decided to go full gas. I saw I had the gap and I preferred to be alone rather than someone catch me, so I tried to keep Richie and Stevie Williams away and maybe I paid for that a little bit in the end, but I didn’t really want them to catch me. I don’t know what the GC guys want to do in the next mountain stages, but if there’s a chance I’ll try again.”
Enrique Mas is hoping to try again tomorrow. “There are days when I have a hard time thinking that I can’t be competing for the general classification, but in stages like today I enjoy being able to run like that like a little child. It’s a big shame, because the team has done a great job. It was 120 km to form the decisive group, truly crazy. We have been attentive, we had people in all the cuts and in the end Alex (Aranburu and I) were able to get in. There simply were no legs on the Col du Noyer. You have already seen what group we were. It’s a shame not to have won, but the team is super good and we raced with pleasure.”
Pogačar was happy with his ride and his small time gain. “Evenepoel was very good, he made a good attack in the final. Visma | Lease a Bike also did a super good team work. If Jonas hadn’t sent his good teammates ahead, Remco and I could have put even more pressure on Jonas. Maybe it would have been a different outcome, but they did that very well. “I don’t know why I tried it (attacked) sometimes I don’t understand myself. But I did gain two seconds on Jonas and I’m happy with that.”
Visma’s DS, Merijn Zeeman, was asked afterwards about Vingegaard performance and if had indicated he was in difficulty. “No, but it was a gruelling race. That automatically makes it a very difficult final. That has clearly crept into Jonas’ legs. The difference is still minimal today and on Friday we will go into the high mountains again, above 2000 metres. Then we will be on a completely different course. But anyway, Evenepoel was very strong today, and Pogacar too. Let’s hope that the balance will be different again on Friday.”
RESULTS
Stage 17: Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux > Superdévoluy (177.8km)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
